Emily's Leave
by EMISON1
Summary: 6 years after the end of Season 6a, Emily returns home on leave after her Commissioning Ceremony for the Army. She is looking forward to seeing everyone, but most of all her beloved Alison, but there is a major obstacle in the way of her winning Alison's heart... Alison's husband Dr. Rollins. Based off a prompt by Subjectx17 on Tumblr
1. Welcome Home

The rain came pouring down as the train rolled through Union Station in Washington DC. Thankfully the station was underground so none of the disembarking passengers got wet leaving the train. Several had stopped to thank the dark haired woman sitting in the Business Class seat for her service to their country. It was a sweet gesture, but she didn't feel that she deserved it. She'd only gone to college and Officer's Candidate School. She was on leave after her commissioning before she went to school to become a 31A Military Police Officer for ten weeks. She had wanted to choose a more dangerous job, but her mother and her friends had begged her not to. However it wasn't her mother, or Spencer, or Hanna, or Aria, or even Paige that had stopped her from choosing something like Infantry or Explosive Ordinance Disposal, it was the pleas of one beautiful blonde girl in particular who had done it.

This was the same girl who had come to Fort Benning, Georgia two weeks earlier to pin this girl's gold bars on her shoulder at her commissioning ceremony. That was a story in and of its self. The trouble was that the blonde; Alison DiLaurentis, or Alison Rollins as she was calling herself these days, was married to a Doctor. Hearing that had nearly broken the dark haired girl's heart but she'd managed to stay strong through it and it was Alison's marriage that had sealed her decision to join the military.

Emily Fields had needed to get as far away from Alison as she could after finding out that her angel was married. It had broken her heart, but she'd survived because she'd lost Alison before and that had nearly killed her. However, as much as Emily wished she could pretend that Alison didn't matter to her, or that she was just a friend, it was impossible. Emily kept a photo of Alison with her all the time. Even in basic training when the recruits and officer's candidates weren't allowed to have much of anything, Emily had kept that picture of Alison with her. When it came time for her commissioning, everyone assumed that Emily would have her mother Pam pin the 2nd Lieutenant bars on her shoulders, but Pam had agreed with Emily's choice to have Alison do it. Alison had agreed, all to willingly, which told Emily that she wasn't as devoted to her husband as she pretended to be.

The day had finally come, Emily was being commissioned. Everyone was there, Spencer, Hanna, Aria, Caleb, Toby, Pam, even her dad was there in the form of the photo that Pam had brought. The bars being pinned to her shoulders were her father's bars from when he was commissioned. The ceremony proceeded and soon it was Emily's turn to be pinned. She had stood at attention, her eyes forward as the beautiful blonde Angel came forward and pinned the gold bars on her shoulders.

"I'm so proud of you Em." Alison had said, "You really are my Killer... you always have been." She had smiled and leaned up to kiss Emily's cheek as she'd seen all the other mothers, and wives, and girlfriends do. In the age where "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" had been repealed, it was allowed. Emily's heart had skipped a beat but she'd maintained her military bearing as Alison walked back to sit next to Pam.

That had been two weeks prior and Emily still could feel Alison's lips on her cheek. She closed her eyes and looked at her phone. She was due at the Philadelphia Station in an hour and a half and she couldn't wait. She had already talked to Alison when she'd left Georgia to double check and make sure that Alison could pick her up. She might not have been able to date the girl, but she could spend as much time with her as she could and hopefully make Alison see who she was really meant to be with.

Dressed in her grey BDU's, with her tan boots, and black beret with her bar on it Emily leaned her head back and drifted into a shallow sleep but one where she still could dream. She dreamed of the sweet time when Alison had saved her from the barn and had told her that she was her favorite. She dreamed about the time Alison visited Emily when Emily was staying in Alison's room. That was when she'd gotten her bracelet back. She still had that as well. She dreamed of the time they had found Alison alive. Everything was perfect... but then the train came to a stop and jarred her awake.

It was the stop before hers. Emily sighed as she felt her phone buzzing, "Hey killer, I won't be able to make it. Hubby surprised me and took me to dinner. I'm so sorry! You know I'd much rather be there. Let's do lunch tomorrow. Your choice, my treat. Kisses! -Ali"

Emily's heart sank. She got a follow up text that had been sitting in her phone for twenty minutes from her mother saying she was going to be picking her up. Emily just sighed again and leaned her head back on the seat, "Fuck..." She whispered to herself.

"Union Station, Union Station next station stop. Please check to make sure you have all your personal belongings. Not all doors will open, exit where you see a crew member. Thank you and have a nice evening. Union Station next." The driver of the train announced.

Emily sighed and stood up pulling her bag off the luggage rack and slinging it over her shoulder. She reached up and grabbed her uniform bag and brought it down before the train came to a stop and Emily walked to the door. She was happy to see her mom as she disembarked the train and rushed over to hug her. Pam held her daughter close and tried to fight it but a few tears trickled from her eyes seeing her daughter in the same uniform Wayne had worn for so long. Pam looked at her daughter and Emily didn't even need to ask why her mom was crying. She knew, she'd cried over it herself more times than she could count.

Once Emily and Pam were in the car things started to drift back to normal. Pam explained all the gossip from the town and what she and Ella, and Ashley, and Veronica were doing. Veronica had won her seat in the state senate but made frequent returns to Rosewood. Emily sat and nodded flipping her phone in her fingers as though anxiously awaiting something but she knew that Alison was having dinner with her husband and then... who knew what. The thought almost made her sick.

"She would have been here if she could. You know that." Pam said as though being able to read Emily's thoughts.

"What?" Emily said, once again jarred from her own thoughts, "Who.. oh it's fine." Emily shrugged trying to pretend it didn't matter, "She has a family now, that should come first."

"Emily stop it." Pam said not in a scolding manner but firm, "You don't have to pretend around me. I know how much you love her and I know how disappointing it is that she couldn't come to pick you up." Pam smiled warmly but painfully over at Emily.

"No Mom, it's fine... really." Emily said but she didn't even believe the sound of her own voice so she knew her mom would see right through it.

"I'll tell you something," Pam said, "We have never figured out why Alison got married so young to someone she hasn't known that long." She looked at Emily, "We have all been rooting for you."

Emily's brow furrowed as an amused smile came to her lips, "Who's we?"

"Us moms. We know these things..." Pam smiled a bit brighter, glad to see Emily finally smiling.

The car continued to drive the half hour from Philadelphia to Rosewood in the dark. Pam's lights illuminating the way but Emily didn't care, her mind was on Alison and what her angel could be doing at that moment and the more she thought about her dancing with her husband, kissing him, or worse, Emily's stomach churned, she felt sick, and angry all at the same time.

The sun rose the next day and like she had always done Emily went for a run. She had always listened to music on her run but this time she just put on Fight Song on repeat as she ran for nearly six miles. The pain from the previous night still wasn't gone, in fact as she had laid in bed trying to sleep her mind kept thinking about Alison over and over. It had taken her forever to get to sleep but she couldn't help what her heart wanted.

She came back to the house, got showered, and dressed in her uniform as she prepared to go out for the day. She and Alison were set to meet at the Brew at 11. Thankfully it was summer vacation for Rosewood High School so this was possible and Alison wouldn't have a time limit in which she would have to return to class. Emily decided to walk from her house to the Brew. It wasn't that far and it would give her some time to think. She tucked her phone in her pocket and set off as her mom got ready to go to work.

The whole trip Emily was waiting for Alison to text her saying her husband had surprised her again and that she couldn't make it. Emily almost expected it, she knew that Dr. Rollins didn't like her, but then she didn't really care. They had met once during a vacation in College when he and Alison were only dating and Emily and he had taken an instant dislike to each other so it made sense in Emily's head that Dr. Rollins was deliberately trying to keep Alison away from Emily. The thought infuriated her but she kept her cool.

All thoughts of jealousy and Dr. Rollins rushed out of her mind as she saw the golden haired beauty sitting in one of the outside chairs sipping on a coffee with her legs crossed. Emily paused a moment soaking up the beauty of the woman she'd loved for so long. Emily had loved her to the grave and back and through everything they had been through, everything that they had been dragged through with Charlotte and Sara. She loved her, she knew she did because every time Emily looked at Alison her heart skipped a beat and her breath caught. She couldn't help but smile, her features, which had been sharpened by the Army, instantly softened when she gazed at Alison. She couldn't help it. Butterflies went rampant in her stomach but she didn't mind, it made her feel almost giddy.

Finally Emily's feet started moving again and as she walked up Alison stood and smiled, "Hi there Killer." She smiled wrapping her arms around Emily as she felt Emily's arms wrap around her. It felt so good, there was a warm comforting feeling about being held in Emily's arms that she didn't seem to quite get anywhere else. She had often thought it was just because they had gone through so much, but when Alison thought about it, all the other girls had too and yet she didn't get this feeling hugging them! No there was something different about Emily and whatever it was Alison liked it.

The moment Alison's arms went around her Emily's heart started beating faster. She closed her eyes and she felt safe. Even the Army hadn't made Emily feel completely safe, but Alison did. Somehow when Alison was there, when they were close, Emily didn't have a care in the world. All her worries and all her fears just went out the window and nothing mattered anymore, except for the two of them. It was a unique feeling and one that Emily wished she could have kept forever.

They parted and smiled as they walked into the Brew. No real words were said. The pair smiled at Sabrina who was wearing her usual tie-died, hippie-esque clothing as she took a load of dirty coffee mugs into the back room to be washed. Emily looked at Alison, "She still works here? I figured she would have gotten too stoned one day and Ezra would have fired her."

Alison shook her head, "Ezra doesn't own it anymore, besides, this place has kinda grown on her." She smiled as Emily walked up to the counter and ordered her usual and ordered Alison another coffee. She knew Alison's order from memory after all these years. There was nothing about Alison that Emily didn't know or remember except for the things that had happened since her marriage.

After getting her coffee Emily and Alison walked over to the couches where the girls used to sit all the time and sat down, "So how was your trip?" Alison finally asked crossing her legs and sipping her new, much warmer coffee.

"Long, obnoxious." Emily said giggling, "Disappointing." Her eyes almost grew wide as she realized that she'd actually said that out loud.

"I know... I'm sorry." Alison said, "I hadn't expected him to bring me to dinner but it turned out to be a working dinner. He talked with his colleagues about cancer patients. I would have much rather been with you." A sweet, genuine smile came to Alison's lips as her blue eyes gazed at her mermaid.

Emily's heart skipped a beat, "It's ok, you have a family now. I get it." The disappointment was masked but not deeply.

Alison could see right through it but decided to let it go, "How long are you home for?"

"Just a month or so while they get a new cycle going." Emily said sipping her coffee, "Not sure what I'm gonna do with myself." That was a lie, Emily knew exactly what she was going to do with herself. She was going to win the heart of the woman sitting in front of her, even if it killed her to do it.

"I'm sure you'll think of something." Alison said with a sweet smile. A moment of silence passed between the two of them before Alison spoke again, "Hey, did you wanna join me John for dinner tonight? I'm cooking Pasta of some sort."

The idea of having dinner was wonderful and made Emily smile to herself, but the thought of Dr. Rollins being there made her want to punch him in the face. She remembered the dinner that Pam had invited Alison too when they found out Hanna was drinking Vodka all night instead of water. Emily imagined this dinner ending much that way, except she would be the one drinking too much. "I'm having dinner with Hanna and Caleb. She called a few days ago." She smiled. It wasn't completely untrue, she did have an open dinner date with Hanna, but Caleb knew nothing about it.  
Alison smiled about to say something when her phone chimed. She pulled it out and saw an incoming call from her husband, "Excuse me a sec Em." She smiled and answered it, "Hi honey..."

Emily rolled her eyes and sipped her coffee, wishing she could spike it with Bailey's Irish Creme like she'd been known to do from time to time. Listening to Alison talk to her husband on the phone was more than infuriating. She had to find a way to get rid of this guy, he was way too old for Alison, just like Lorenzo had been, and Emily knew, she could feel, that Alison wasn't giving her all to this guy, just like Emily hadn't given her all to Maya, or Paige, or Sara. The only girl Emily had ever given herself to entirely and loved completely was the blonde sitting across from her talking to her husband on the phone.

A moment later Alison hung up, "Look Em... I'm sorry to cut this short but John forgot his lunch at home." Alison stood up looking a bit shaken.

Emily raised her eyebrow standing up too, "It's a hospital, doesn't it have a Cafeteria?" Her voice was less than amused; in fact it was far more hostile than she'd intended it to be.

Alison paused a moment as though thinking about Emily's question, "You know how that food is." Alison said, "We'll get together again very soon." She smiled and leaned in kissing Emily's cheek in a very French fashion which made the sting of her leaving even more painful as the flood of memories from that afternoon in French Class before Alison disappeared came rushing back into Emily's mind.

"Yeah..." Emily said forcing a smile as she watched the woman of her dreams walk hurriedly out of the Brew. Emily sighed wanting to throw her coffee but she just pulled out her phone and started walking out of the brew after putting her Beret on, "Yeah Hanna..." She said into the phone as her friend picked up, "Dinner, tonight, somewhere with Alcohol. Text me the details later." She paused, "I'm beyond pissed... I'm a girl on a mission now."


	2. Hanna's Plan

**Hey all! Thanks so much for the warm comments and reviews of Chapter 1. This is chapter 2. I'm doing to be working on Chapter 3 as well and hopefully get that up for you all soon! Let me know if you still like it.**

"Easy there Em..." Hanna said as Emily finished her second Jack and Coke in the first half hour of their being at the restaurant, "You'd think you were me at that dinner with your mom and Ali when Ali first got back."

Emily shook her head, "I wish it was then, things were so much simpler then without... him." The last word out of her mouth was full of anger and venom.

In all their years of friendship Hanna hadn't ever really seen Emily this upset before. She couldn't figure out what it was, but when she said 'him' it wasn't hard to figure out. Hanna had gone to Alison and Dr. Rollins' wedding. She thought it was sweet, but it wasn't until Spencer had mentioned that Dr. Rollins was the doctor from Mona's patient file at Radley, that Hanna began to wonder just what was going on.

Hanna tried to think of something to say to her friend that might make things easier, but she couldn't. Finally to break the silence she finally said, "Alright, spill it. I want to know everything you think is going on, how you feel, everything."

Emily sniffed in a mocking laugh, "Please... it would bore you." Emily said dismissing it, not really wanting to ruin Hanna's night by ranting about a man she hated worse than -A.

"I wouldn't have asked if I didn't wanna know, so spill!" Hanna said in her firm voice.

The girls sat at their table wearing casual clothes. Emily had come out of her uniform and put on a pair of boot-cut jeans and a t-shirt. A flannel shirt was tied around her waist and her hair was down out of the military regulation bun she'd become so accustomed to wearing. Hanna, by comparison was wearing a simple sundress with a jean jacket that came down just below her bust line. Emily wasn't a fan, but then she understood the style.

Emily sighed looking around the crowd of people at the simple restaraunt they had chosen that night, "I am still in love with Alison."  
Hanna smirked, "Well call Ripley's, there's nothing new there." She laughed lightly but realized that Emily was not in a joking mood.

"But she's married to this fucking pig who keeps cutting our time short." Emily said trying to contain her anger but it was starting to come out, "He 'surprised' her with dinner the other night when she was supposed to pick me up from the train station, and then today when we were having coffee at the Brew, he 'left his lunch at home.' So Ali had to go hand deliver it to him." Emily's voice was full of sarcasm when explaining this to Hanna, "I'm pretty sure that hospital has a fucking cafeteria! "  
"Yeah but Em, come on, you know how that food is." Hanna said taking a sip of her drink as their salads arrived on the table.

Emily glared for a moment as Hanna had inadvertently used the exact same words Alison had earlier. She paused a moment before speaking as she covered her salad in ranch dressing, "You don't think he's doing this on purpose? You honestly don't think that this bastard is trying to keep me away from Alison?" She perked an eyebrow waiting for Hanna to respond. When she said nothing Emily continued, "Look, you know that when we all got together during Spring Break Sophomore year that he hated me. He glared at me the whole time and kept getting closer to Alison."

"Ok Emily, I get it... he's jealous of you." Hanna said before taking another drink of her Vodka and cranberry juice, "But what can you do about it?"

Emily got a smirk on her face, "I can win her back."

"What?"  
"You heard me. " Emily said, "I'm going to win her back."

"Em... you never really had her." Hanna said with some hesitation knowing that it would blow Emily sky high to hear that, but it was the truth. She and Alison had never been in a relationship.

"Bullshit!" Emily snapped, "If there's one thing the Army has taught me it's not to stop until I've achieved my goals. Well right now Alison DiLaurentis is my goal."  
"You do realize how incredibly stalkerish you sound right now." Hanna warned.

"I don't mean it like that." Emily said, calming herself, "Have you noticed that Alison doesn't seem all that into the Doctor?" She raised an eyebrow waiting for confirmation, when it didn't come Emily said, "Look, if you can look me in the eye right now and tell me that Alison is completely, madly in love with Rollins, and has no reservations at all, then I'll drop the whole thing right now."

There was a long awkward silence that followed. Hanna sat trying to figure out her next words. The truth was she knew exactly what Emily was saying and in fact knew more about the situation than Emily thought she did. Having moved back to Rosewood a year earlier, Hanna had spent more time with Dr. and Mrs. Rollins and she knew that Dr. Rollins hated Emily with a passion. He had made Alison take down every picture in her house that Emily was in, even if it was a group shot, and had secretly thrown out the Rosewood Swim Team letterman jacket that Emily had given Alison before Emily had left for college. Luckily, Hanna had snagged it and put it in her house until she could get it back to Alison. That time looked like it may have come.

"Look Em, I know more than you think I do about this." Hanna said, "And I think you are right, but I think you need to calm down and take a deep breath before you turn into the next -A." She smiled a bit at that, showing that she was serious but not about Emily becoming -A, "About six or seven months ago I was walking down to the Brew and passed the DiLaurentis house. I didn't pay much attention. I saw Rollins and nodded, said hi, and kept walking. Well it was trash day and their trash buckets were sitting at the end of the street like everyone's were and I noticed a blue sleeve sticking out of one f the buckets. Once I was sure Rollins was back inside I went to go check to see what it was." Hanna explained and Emily was on the edge of her seat, "It was the letterman jacket you gave Alison right before we all left for college." Hanna made a slightly awkward, and sad face over the whole thing, "Don't worry, it's safe at my house. I've been waiting for the right time to give it to Alison but I think that time may have come. Alison mentioned to me a month or so after I found it that she was missing it, and thought she'd left it somewhere. I just didn't want to tell her that her husband was throwing away her things without her permission."

Emily knew the look on Hanna's face. She'd seen it a dozen times before, like when Hanna got the idea to break into A's storage locker that was taken in her name. Granted that plan didn't work that well but she knew Hanna's planning face when she saw it, "Ok, so what's the plan Han?"

"I'll bump into Hanna tomorrow. She has Pilates with me in the morning. After Pilates class I'll give her the jacket back and explain everything. I would wait a day or so and see what happens. You know Ali, she'll need to process it and then flip out and demand answers before she starts looking for you." Hanna smiled slightly, "So I'll do that, and you won't freak out and do anything bad, got it?"

Emily nodded, "Yeah I got it." She smiled thinking about the plan. It was a good one and one that would definitely create some friction between Dr. and Mrs. Rollins, which would give Emily the space she needed to move in. She knew that Alison wasn't happy with him; she knew she wasn't in love with him, not the way that she and Emily could love each other. Alison just needed to have this façade of the white picket fence life ripped away and she could see this controlling prick for what he was, and see that Emily was the one who she really belonged with. Emily was her soulmate. If Alison only knew the amount of hours Emily spent awake crying into her pillow, or visiting Alison's grave while Alison was missing, it would be so obvious. Emily had been existing for so long, it wasn't until Alison came back that Emily remembered what life really was, and even then neither of them could enjoy it with Charlotte poking around and messing with their lives. But that was the funny part, Emily got along with Charlotte. She'd gone to visit her several times in the new institution that Alison had checked her into. It was somewhere much nicer than Radley ever had been, and Charlotte seemed to be making a lot of progress there. More importantly Charlotte had told her how obvious it was that she and Alison belonged together... she had even told her about the fight that Alison and Paige had gotten into before Alison's disappearance over Emily. That story had made Emily's heart flutter and she couldn't stop grinning like an idiot for hours afterwards.

With their plan set, Emily could relax for the first time since being home and enjoy the rest of her dinner with Hanna. She would have to lay low from Alison for a few days but she knew Hanna was right, a little patience would pay off and that was what she had to do, just be patient, love would always find a way and as was proven when Emily escaped the burning dollhouse, soulmates would always find each other.


	3. Spencer's Advice

**Thanks everyone for the warm reviews. You've all really kept me going. This scene is strictly between Alison and Spencer, but it builds us up to where this story is going. I will try and do more installments next week but this may be the last one for this week.  
Thanks so much for the love and a shout out to Astuteliar (on twitter) who helped me with some of Spencer's responses. I hope you all enjoy this. **

Alison had taken the long walk home from her Pilates class the following morning. Over her shoulder was her pink and black stripped Victoria's Secret duffle bag that had her towel and street clothes in it, and over her arm was draped a blue and black Rosewood High Sharks letterman jacket with the name "Fields" embroidered in white thread on the left side and Captain embroidered on both sleeves in the middle of the upper arm. She hadn't had the jacket when she'd gone to class, but after everything Hanna had told her about it, Alison needed to take a walk before she went home and started to throw things at her husband. The worst part was, Hanna's explanation about the jacket had started to make some of the other strange things in her life fall into place. It explained why her husband had suggested that they remove some of the pictures she had around the house. He claimed that it was too cluttered and Alison hadn't even realized that they were all the pictures of Emily, even the group shots. The more Alison thought about it the more she realized that there was not one trace of Emily Fields in her house anymore.

Alison made it back to her house ready to confront her husband but he was already gone. On the counter was a note explaining that there had been an emergency with one of his patients and he had to go early. He told her to pick something for dinner and that he planned to be home around seven. Alison's face tightened as she crumpled the paper up and threw it in the trash. She dropped her bag and draped the jacket over her shoulders before picking up her phone and texting the one person she knew who could make sense of this.

"Hastings! Wake up, please? I need to talk. Skype in an hour?" She pressed send and started pacing until she got a text back from Spencer which was a simple thumbs up emoticon followed by a sleepy face emoticon.  
Alison headed upstairs to take a shower and make herself beautiful for the day while she let Spencer wake herself up. She was still fuming and the first thing she did after getting out of the shower, towel still wrapped around her naked form, was pull the picture of Emily out of her dresser and set it back on her vanity. It was a picture of her and Emily from just before she disappeared. It was the photo she'd kept with her the entire time she was on the run. She'd cried so many times over this picture, missing her Mermaid. She smiled at the picture and put her fingers to her lips kissing them and then putting her fingers over Emily's smiling face in the photo.

Alison got dressed and went downstairs to make herself a cup of coffee with her Keurig Machine before she fired up her laptop in the living room and sat there waiting for Spencer to text her. Finally it came and a moment or two later Alison's skype started ringing with Spencer's face coming up. She clicked "Accept" and sat back.

Spencer was still in her PJ's, and looked like she'd just crawled out of bed as she sat there sipping her coffee. She rubbed her eye real quick, "Ok... so... what's the big emergency?" She asked groggily as she sipped her coffee hoping the caffeine would make her a little more awake than she was now.

"Remember how I said that I'd lost that jacket Emily gave me?" Alison said, far more energetic than Spencer was. Spencer merely nodded in response with her coffee mug glued to her lips. Alison continued by holding up the sleeve of the jacket, "Well it's been found."  
"Where'd you find it?" Spencer asked, wondering why Alison felt the need to Skype her at eight in the morning to tell her she'd found a jacket that she'd no doubt, simply misplaced.

"I didn't find it." Alison said, "That's just the thing, Hanna did! In the dumpster six months ago when I thought I'd lost it." Her voice showed her shock, surprise and of course... anger.

"Wait... you threw it out?" Spencer said, a bit more herself since her first cup of coffee, "Emily's going to be heartbroken! You've done some shitty things before..."

"Spencer! I didn't throw it out!" Alison replied back heatedly, "Do you think I would be going crazy trying to find it if I had been the one to throw it out?!"

"No... you're not Cece..." Spencer muttered to herself.

Alison looked at Spencer with a displeased look on her ace, "Let's not bring Charlotte into this, please?"

"Sorry..." Spencer said, "So who did it?"

"Think about it... who else could it have been?!" Alison said, "It had to have been John." Alison could feel her heart speeding up and she could feel herself getting more upset over it.

"Ok, Alison... calm down." Spencer said before sighing, "Hang on, I need way more coffee for this."

As spencer disappeared off the screen Alison looked around her living room. She could see all the places where the photos used to sit or hang. Now there were only a few of them. One of her and her mom, o of her family, minus Charlotte of course, and a few of her and the other girls. There was not one photo of Emily Fields in the house anywhere, except for the one she'd just put back out on her vanity.

Spencer came back and sat down, "Ok, so now calm down and take this from the top, what are you saying?" Spencer was trying to put the pieces of Alison's scattered story together, but was having a hard time given how emotional Alison was being about it.

"I'm saying I think John is purposely trying to erase Emily from my life." Alison said, "Here, let's go on a tour." Alison picked up her laptop and started to walk around her living room. She knew Spencer would know it well enough to recognize that the photos that used to be there weren't there. It took all of twenty minutes to show Spencer the entire downstairs of her house and that it was void of Emily Fields. Finally Alison sat back down on the couch and set her laptop down, "See... now add that in with the fact that he's been coming up with all these surprise things to keep me from spending any real time with her since she's been home on leave. He threw a fucking fit when I went to Georgia for Emily's commissioning thing." She took a sip of her coffee, "That's why I needed to tell you... I know you'll be able to put these pieces together better than I can."

Spencer sighed a moment taking a long swig of her second cup of coffee before she spoke, "Ok, look... the way I see this is that he's trying to control aspects of your life and that's not ok. Furthermore, he's trying to divide or at the very least distance a long standing friendship that has been through more than he could ever fathom, which is also not ok. My advice, consult a lawyer and see what your divorce options are. You don't want to stay with someone who is trying to control you this much. It can be toxic and make you very lonely at the end of the day. IF he's trying to keep you from seeing Emily, then what's to stop him from trying to cut out the rest of us too?" Spencer of course was slightly bias and bitter since loosing Toby after freshman year of High School, but she did want the best for her friends, and that included Alison.

Alison took a breath and tried to process it all, "I wish your mom were still around."

"I'm sure your lawyer from your trial will have some suggestions." Spencer replied.

Alison scoffed, "I wouldn't trust her with a parking ticket, much less a divorce case." She ran her fingers through her golden hair, "Thanks Spencer. I mean it. I needed to hear that. I'll give someone a call later today."

"Go somewhere else and do it. Don't do it in the house." Spencer suggested, "Not saying we're paranoid after -A but let's face it... you never know who could be listening."

Alison nodded in reply, "Thanks Spencer. I hope you can come back from Washington soon."  
"I should be back in a couple weeks at least for a weekend." Spencer said smiling a bit, "Miss you and Hanna. Give Emily a hug for me if you see her. I doubt I'll see her before she ships off again."

"Will do hon." Alison said, "Bye." After the pair waved at each other Alison turned off her Skype and sat silently in her house listening to the clock tick. Spencer was right, Dr. Rollins was trying to control parts of her life and Alison wasn't ok with that at all. She had to do something about it. Of course none of the answers were easy, but then the right thing never was. Alison opened up a Google search, looking up divorce lawyers near Rosewood when her clock struck ten. It was time to get out of this.


	4. Let the Game Begin

**Hey! I wanted to say thanks again for all the positive reviews, praise and love! I can hardly believe the support you guys have given me in writing this. You guys are the greatest! I never thought this story would get this big. I have increased the rating on this story because of this chapter, and perhaps another one in the future. I don't plan on having this story have a lot of erotica in it, but some. This chapter does have information for the whole story, so I ask you guys to gear through it. It will all tie together :D**

 ****The better part of a week had gone by and not talking to Alison was getting more and more difficult. Every day that went by Emily missed her more and more. She would run by her house every morning on her six mile run. Someone was up at that hour but she almost knew it wasn't Alison. Just the thought of Dr. Rollins infuriated her. She'd visited the indoor shooting range her dad took her too when she was younger, and she visited herself after she'd gotten out of the Dollhouse to blow off some steam. It didn't really seem to help, even though she imagined his smug, pretentious face on the center of the target.

This is how Emily's day went for the week that she was trying to hard to ignore Alison. Alison hadn't really reached out to her either, which made her even more worried. Had Rollins really forbidden her to see Emily after the Brew? Or had Alison picked up on Emily's anger and decided to keep her distance? Emily began to fear that she'd ruined everything, but she kept her head high. She wasn't going to give up this easily.

Emily laid in bed on Saturday night and gazed up at the ceiling in thought. She closed her eyes and listened and could hear Alison's voice on the wind, and could almost feel the blonde laying next to her. She remembered the time that the pair had stayed at Alison's house after she'd come back to Rosewood. Alison was so frightened that someone was planning on hurting her that she had begged Emily to stay with her. Emily, of course, was all too willing to accept.

Emily laid in her bed imagining that night. She sat up and walked over to her door and locked it before she crawled back into bed and pulled her shirt off. She lay in bed topless, her dark skin illuminated softly by the moonlight. The cool air drifting through her open window making her nipples a bit more erect. Emily's eyes drifted closed again as she remembered the rest of the events of that night. Slowly her hand drifted across her skin, feeling each of her soft breasts, squeezing them gently as she could almost feel Alison's lips on her as she had that night.

Slowly her hand drifted across her soft skin and down her torso heading for the hemline of her panties. Her mind raced with the events of that night as her fingers went to her wet folds and began to stroke her sensitive nub. She felt her whole body react to it as she gasped, letting out an audible moan. Emily wasn't a highly sexual person but when it came to the memory of this night she couldn't help but feel aroused and feel the need to relieve herself. Alison was just too incredibly gorgeous and there was too much emotion there for Emily to contain herself.

Emily's breaths became more and more labored as she felt herself growing closer and closer to her climax. She bit her lip and moaned as she arched her back and her free hand cupped her breast and pinched her breast slightly as her fingers continued to caress her womanhood. "Oh, Alison." came from her lips no louder than a loud breath as she rolled her head back wishing that it was her Angel there caressing her wet folds.

The moments continued to pass as Emily brought herself closer and closer to orgasm. She felt the tension in her body, ever muscle in her well defined body was growing tighter as her breath caught in her throat and she cried out softly, not loud enough that anyone outside her room would hear. She called Alison's name, as she felt her body release, and shake with orgasm. Her limbs quivering with the intensity of it as her legs pressed shut but her finger persisted to pleasure herself, "Ohhh fuckkk." She moaned as it started to wear off and she felt a wave of sleepiness come over her. She slipped into her covers and blissfully went to sleep.

Monday morning Emily decided to put herself back into the game. She had no idea what had happened with Alison the previous week, but she was able to find out Alison's schedule for the week. Emily had another twenty-one days of leave before she had to go to her Military Police school. Twenty-one days to make Alison realize they were soul mates and this was going to be the first play she put into action.

On her six mile run Emily decided to stop at the Rosewood florist. Emily walked in as the woman was still setting buckets of various flowers out, obviously having just opened. Emily smiled looking at a bouquet of red roses, but she bypassed them for a bouquet of a dozen white roses with purple edges of the petals. Emily smiled and nodded turning back to the woman and paying for the roses. "Can you deliver them to Rosewood High at about 10:30?" Emily asked as she gave the woman her debit card to scan for payment.

"Of course dear. Who are they for?" The older woman said, probably in her mid-fifties. She was a kindly looking woman, sort of like the stereotypical grandmother.

"A dear, dear... friend." Emily said, not sure what this woman's take on lesbians was, "She'll be in the English Room. Her name is Alison DiLaurentis." Emily took one of the message cards that would go with the bouquet and took her time writing her first clue. She was careful not so sign it with an "-A" so instead she signed it with "-M". With a smile she nodded, satisfied in her message before tucking it into the small envelope and sliding it into the bouquet, "Thank you." Emily said, "And she can not know they came from me. It has to be a secret, kind of a secret admirer thing."

"Of course, dear." the woman said, "They will be there at 10:30."

Emily smiled wishing she could be there to see Alison's face when she received the flowers. School wasn't in, but she had learned from her mother's babbling about town gossip, that the school had a staff development day that day, so Alison would be there. It was just the first step in reminding Alison what they meant to each other. The connection was undeniable. Even Charlotte and Mona had seen it. The story about Alison and Paige fighting over Emily was one of Charlotte's favorite stories to tell and no matter how many times Emily had heard it, it never got old to think of her beautiful Angel fighting to keep her. Sure it might have been a control thing for the Alison of that time, but Emily knew in her bones that there was more to it. Alison wouldn't have gone to those lengths if she wanted to control Paige and Alison already knew she had Emily under her thumb. Emily just had to remind her, she had to erase the damage that Dr. Rollins had done in driving a wedge between them and today was the day that started.

Alison sat at her desk after the first staff meeting and worked on some lessons plans for the first weeks of school. This year would be opened with Gatsby. F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic romance about the 1920s would be her first challenge of the year. As she sat there, trying to figure out how to make this novel appeal to high school juniors, a knock came at her door as a man stood there with a bouquet of white roses with purple ends on them. Alison raised an eyebrow and stood, "Can I help you?"  
"Mrs. DiLaurentis?" The man said, "Alison DiLaurentis?"

"I'm Alison Rollins. DiLaurentis was my maiden name." Alison replied even though her wedding ring and engagement ring were sitting on her vanity at home since her meeting with the lawyer the previous week. She'd been 'forgetting' to put them on after her showers. Dr. Rollins didn't really seem to even put up much of a fuss, which only made Alison wonder just how much he really cared.

"We were told to deliver these at 10:30." The man said handing the flowers to her.

"Who are they from?" Alison asked figuring they were from her husband, though he usually sent azaleas.

"There's a card inside." the man replied, "Have a nice day." He smiled and left leaving Alison alone in the room to examine the flowers.

Alison's heart started beating faster as she gazed at the flowers. She reached in and pulled out the little 2inch, by 2inch card. It was cream colored with a blue pen. The handwriting looked familiar but she couldn't place it.

 _"_ _I loved her against Reason_

 _Wondering who this is?  
That's the biz,  
Want the next clue?  
I know you do.  
Remember where you hung out with your crew?  
Just go to the Brew.  
~M"_

Alison stood there looking at the card. It was so frighteningly like an -A message that her stomach was in knots, but the quote at the top from "Great Expectations" rang a bell. A memory stirred in Alison's mind and she couldn't help but smile as she went back to the library all those years ago where Emily found her reading it and she'd read her that very quote. Alison knew that she would have to wait until lunch to get her next clue as to who this was, but it was as exciting as it was nerve wracking. She needed to know so she could stop having such a heart attack over it. It was clear that there was no malicious intent behind it, but then -A had played gentle games like this before to throw her off her game. Alison would just have to wait and hope she could figure this out.


	5. The Game Continues

**You guys are seriously the best fans ever! I love how supportive you are. Every day when I log on and see the number of reviews and followers going up I am amazed! Thank you so much! I hope you enjoy this next part. It's a continuation of the last. Same day, and all that jazz.**

It seemed that lunch would never come. The last meeting, something about setting higher standards for curriculum or something, seemed to drag on and started to sound like the teacher from Peanuts to Alison as her mind started to wander. She held the card in her fingers, rotating it around. Her mind tried to be Spencer-like and figure out who it was that was doing this. Who knew what her favorite flowers were? The list was long on that one. Who knew about "Great Expectations" and what it meant to her? The list shortened, but still left quite a few candidates. Who knew she hung out at the Brew with the girls all the time? The list got longer again. It seemed the most solid piece of information she had was the "Great Expectations" quote, but even that didn't give her much.

Finally the meeting ended and Alison walked back to her classroom. She had a text message and a missing call from Dr. Rollins, but she ignored them. She had no interest in anything he had to say. Of course she hadn't dropped the bomb on him just yet, but soon. The paperwork was in her bag at that moment, she just hadn't had a chance to deliver it. For the moment she was giving him the cold shoulder, she knew he'd figure out something was wrong eventually.

Alison picked up her bag and headed off from Rosewood high to the Brew. It wasn't that long to walk and the exercise would do her good. It was a gorgeous late summer day and the leaves were just starting to change their tint. It was nothing serious yet, but just enough that people knew, fall was coming and after it; winter. Alison smiled at a few people she knew as she walked and even paused to speak with the lady who ran the flower shop but her lips were sealed, Alison couldn't convince her to tell her who had sent her the flowers that morning. She would have to find the next clue.

Alison walked into the Brew. It was busy, the usual lunch crowd and Alison started to look around wondering what the next clue might look like. She went from the books that were stacked along the walls, to the pictures, and finally to the cashier and coffee server in front of her. Alison stepped up when her name was called. There was a moment or two wait, so Alison had to give them her name. She paused a minute before finally saying, "Alison DiLaurentis." She remembered that the flowers were addressed to her maiden name, so it would make sense that whoever was sending the clues would probably use her maiden name here as well.  
Alison walked over into the little alcove that they all used to sit in at the Brew and sat. She looked around studying the books carefully to see if the clue was there, and then looking at the magazines on the table in front of her, literally anything and everything she could find that would give her the next clue or tell her who was doing this.

"Order for Alison DiLaurentis." The male coffee worker said loudly as he set a cup down with a little brown sleeve around it meant to keep the drinker's hand from getting burned from the heat.  
Alison stood up and walked over taking the coffee in her hand. She started for the door and decided that she was going to pause and take one more look around. In so doing, Alison decided to pick up a coffee stirrer and set her cup down. Alison started stirring her coffee when she noticed something written on the sleeve. Alison looked around to see if she could find the person who did it. She doubted it was either of the girls behind the counter, neither of them knew Alison that well. She took off the sleeve and read it;

 _...against promise_

 _Your second step is taken_

 _I hope you aren't feeling shaken_

 _The clue you seek_

 _if you dare to peek_

 _in a special book_

 _In the Rosewood High Library._

 _~M_

Alison sighed. She'd just come from Rosewood High, and now she had to go back there to find her next clue. On the bright side she had a coffee which she felt would help her get through the rest of the day. She only had to be there until three but it was another three hours of boring meetings she didn't care about, especially since this mystery would be surrounding her thoughts for the rest of the day.

Alison checked her watch. She still had a half hour left before she had to be back and it wouldn't take that long to walk back to school. She read the coffee cup sleeve one more time and started walking, her mind swirling with who could be doing this. Her mind started to point towards Emily, but she dismissed it. Emily loved Alison, Alison knew that, but she also knew that Emily wasn't the type to sabotage her relationship and she was also someone who was upfront about things. She shook her head as she walked, it couldn't be Emily. So who was it?

Alison walked back into the classroom and set her bag down. She picked up her coffee and walked to the library scanning through the books. It was a "special book in the library" according to her clue, but she couldn't figure out what book in there would be special until she rounded the corner and saw one laying on it's side with something hanging out of it. At first she thought it was a bookmark but as she looked at it, it looked more like a beaded piece of Jewelry than it did a bookmark.

Alison walked over to find that the book laid on its side was "Great Expectations." Again her mind went to Emily. She opened it to the page marked by the bracelet, which was a purple beaded bracelet with her name done in white. It looked exactly like the bracelets that she'd given each of the four girls plus herself prior to her disappearance. More importantly it occurred to Alison that the only person who had kept wearing their bracelet all those years she was gone, and really never took it off, was Emily.

Alison looked down at the page and smiled reading the quote. It was the quote she'd read Emily the day that Emily had kissed her. She reflected on that moment thinking about the most magical feeling that had gone through her. At the time she was too young to know what it was, or to recognize its meaning, but now that she was an adult, Alison knew what that feeling was and had only felt it one other time, when she and Emily had slept together right after she'd come home.

A smile crept onto her lips that Alison wasn't even aware of. She was about to close the book when she noticed a 3x5 card had fallen out of it. It had a typed message. This had to be the next clue. Alison closed the book, holding the bracelet in one hand and picked up the card with the other.

 _...against peace_

 _Remember these?_

 _We were so pleased..._

 _But now you want to know_

 _And these rhymes are sucking so,_

 _The next clue can be found_

 _upon a stone on sacred ground._

 _~M_

Alison had to admit this one had her thrown. Sacred ground, and a stone? That made no sense. A grave yard made the most amount of sense, but there were tons of stones there belonging to people she knew. Alison would have to think about this one. She had the rest of the day and as she looked at her watch she realized she was late for her meeting.


	6. Game Over

**You guys rock! You all are the best fans in the world. All the warm reviews and things have really kept me going on this story. I am sorry I haven't written more sooner, but it was getting harder and harder to come up with these rhymes. But now we are through that. Hopefully Chapter 7 won't take me as long. I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it. :)**

The final meeting of the day let go and Alison couldn't have rushed out of the room fast enough. The whole time she was playing with the "ALISON" bracelet that she'd found in the library. Someone had wanted her to remember all this. Her mind kept going back to Emily, but this wasn't Emily's style at all. Emily was more of the shy but direct type, she didn't play games like this. Alison knew, also, that many now knew the story of Emily's love for Alison and where it had led them and all the areas and places that might be considered sacred to them. One place Alison never thought of until she was in her car driving by it Rosewood Cemetery.

Alison pulled off the road and turned off her car. She pulled out the most recent clue she had received and re-read it. "...upon a stone on Sacred Ground." This had to be it. Alison got out of the car and started to walk through the rows of tombstones marking the locations of people's ancestors. She moseyed through for the better part of an hour before she finally came to one that was hauntingly familiar. Why hadn't they gotten rid of this yet?!  
Alison looked at the white marble stone that ready "Alison DiLaurentis." This didn't fit the pattern at all. Everything up to this point had been something special between Alison and Emily, and now this? How did it fit? Alison looked around when she heard her phone chirp. A tingle went down her spine. She suddenly became petrified that it would be a message from -A but it wasn't. As she checked it, she discovered it was just her husband, soon to be ex-husband, who had written her, reminding her to start dinner and that he would be home at eight. She ignored him. She wouldn't be cooking dinner for him, ever again.

Alison finally went back to the task at hand. She took a breath as she saw a white card sitting on top of the tombstone. She was almost afraid to reach up and grab it, but her fingers moved without her knowing it, it seemed, and soon the paper was in her hand. She opened it, it was the same type of card that the last note had been written on. She wore the purple "ALISON" bracelet on her left wrist, the same place she'd had Emily put it on her so many years ago.

...against hope  
Why are you here?  
Because of the tears  
that have fallen on this ground  
when you weren't around.  
Want the next clue?  
Voulez vous?  
Aller á la classe de Français  
Oú vous avez suggéré a jamais

 _~M_

Alison stood in thought for several minutes, her mind pouring over her friendship with Emily. This clue had to mean something. At that moment she wished she'd spent more time studying in their French class instead of goofing off. That's when it hit her! That was the next clue, the French room where Alison had suggested that she and Emily run off to Paris together, forever. A smile came to her lips as she thought about it. She thought about Emily's hair blowing in the wind as she stood on top of the Eiffel Tower. Her sweet Emily.

It took another minute or two for Alison to slip out of her memory-induced haze and come back to reality. The smile still danced on her lips as she headed back towards her car to head back to school. Only this time she wasn't looking for her classroom or any of the faculty she was looking for the next clue. She was almost frantic about it, her mind was going a million miles a minute but her gut kept telling her that it had to be Emily. Her mind fought it, reasoning that it was just her heart trying to play games with her, but the closer she got, the less and less the feeling went away.

Alison didn't even bother looking for a parking place, she pulled up in front of the door to her room and shut her car off. Every room in Rosewood High had an outside door. It remained locked most of the time but Alison had a key. She unlocked the door and walked in. She looked collected but inside her mind and stomach were doing backflips. She had to figure this out. Tonight! Alison knew she wasn't going to be able to sleep as long as this remained unanswered.  
Alison reached the French room and opened the door. She didn't bother flipping on the lights because the clue was sitting under a small bronze statue of the Eiffel Tower. Another smile came to Alison's face as she picked it up and saw the card, just like the others, that said "ALISON" on the front. She knew it would be the next clue and knew that she had to be getting closer to the end.

Alison's blue hues cast down on the card as she picked it up and flipped it over, anticipating what the next clue might be or where it might lead her:

Against Happiness..  
You're almost there  
With much at stake  
And I know your heart has begun to quake  
The answers will be quite a shock  
But first go to that immortal rock.

 _~M_

Alison didn't need to wait to figure out what that meant. She knew it all too well. It took her back to one summer when they were all at the community pool and Alison asked Emily who she wanted to take to the kissing rock. She'd gone there plenty of time to think by herself. Every time she went she kissed her fingers and then pressed them to the spray-painted heart with the initials "EF +AD". Every time she did it she felt her heart flutter a little but never really accepted why.

Alison rushed back out to her car and started it up. Without thinking she pressed the radio button and turned the tunes on in the car as she drove. She was hoping for anything to take her mind off of what was happening. She had all the clues collected. The flowers were still in her classroom. The Eiffel Tower was on her passenger's seat, and the bracelet was on her left wrist. The radio finished up with Rhianna's "Diamonds" and went right into Rachel Platten's "Fight Song". Alison turned it up and her mind went back to that fateful Ice Ball that she put on and arrived with a new group of "Friends" to act as though she didn't need the four girls who had tirelessly looked for her and kept her safe for so many years. More to the point, she was trying to act like she didn't need Emily and that couldn't have been further from the truth. These past few years had proven that.

Before she knew it a tear was rolling down her cheek as she arrived just a few hundred yards from the Kissing Rock, she turned the radio off and rushed out of the car. She had barely remembered to pull the keys out of the ignition. She grabbed the cards and flew out of the car and down the trail. The wind blew gently in the trees as Alison rushed down the trail and found a small heart shaped box of chocolates with a white card stuck on it. Alison sat on the rock as the tears slowly rolled down her cheeks. She pulled the card off and flipped it over and tried to read it through the blurring in her eyes from the tears of regret.

Against all discouragement that could be.  
Here you are  
You've made it to the finish bar,  
Do you remember now?  
How special it was?

 _~M_

Alison sat on the rock looking around for a minute, the tears still coming down her cheeks as she thought about everything she and Emily had been through. The amount of times Emily had saved her life. She remembered the time Emily had bravely run in and fought -A off when -A was trying to choke Alison and then sat right there, holding her close the entire time. She remembered the times they spent alone, she remembered everything. It broke her heart to think of what she'd done to Emily, and how she'd played with her feelings and manipulated her for years. It wasn't fair to Emily, it wasn't fair to herself.  
"Pip gets Estelle in the end." An all-too familiar voice said from behind her. Alison spun around just in time to hear Emily finish her phrase, "Did you get to that part yet?"

Alison rushed over and dropped to her knees, "I'm sorry!" She sobbed, "I'm so sorry Emily. I was so horrible to you."

Emily dropped to her knees, "Honestly, I'm over what happened in high school. With -A messing with us constantly no one can really be held accountable for what they did." She put her hands on Alison's shoulders, "What's hurt even more is that your husband has kept you from seeing me."

Alison shook her head, "I didn't know! I didn't know that's what he was doing." She cried, burying her head in Emily's shoulder.

Emily held Alison close, "So I gathered." She sighed, "Look Alison, I know you are married and I shouldn't say this, but I love you. I love you as more than a friend. I know you know that but I had to tell you so you knew it was still real." She gazed into Alison's blue eyes, made bloodshot from the crying.

Alison nodded, "I... I love you too." She stammered and sniffed, "I... I was going to tell you." She said pulling the manila envelope out of her bag and handing it to Emily, "... I am going to divorce him. I talked to Spencer about it a week ago. I love you Emily, but I don't deserve you. I could spend the rest of my life trying to earn your love and never make up for what I've done."  
Emily softly shushed her and ran her hand down Alison's cheek using her thumb to wipe away her tears. She looked at her one more time before leaning in and kissing her softly and lovingly. She'd waited so long for that. She'd waited so long to remember that feeling and in that moment she felt whole again. Alison, too, felt whole in that moment, as her hand drifted up to cover Emily's that rested on her cheek.  
Then as softly as it had started, Emily pulled away, "Don't worry about earning my love... you already have it, you always have." She said looking at the paperwork in her hand, "For now, let's worry about your future."


	7. Breathe Me In

**CHAPTER 7**

 **Another Update. I'm not sure when I'll be able to get another one done so I thought I'd get this one up and posted. This chapter contains some erotic Adult material. So keep that in mind y'all! If you want to skip that part, then read a little of the beginning, until they get to Ali's town hose in Phili, and then skip ahead to Chapter 8, when they get up the next morning to visit Charlotte.**

Crickets chirped as Emily helped Alison to her feet and handed her the envelope back, "So now what?" Alison asked as the pair stood looking at each other.

Emily smiled at Alison and used her fingers to gently comb a lock of loose hair behind Alison's ear, "You need to give him those papers." Emily paused, "I can go with you if you want."  
Alison shook her head, "No.. I'm.. I'm not ready yet. I need to do one more thing, but I want you to come with me."

"Anything." Emily said with a soft smile. Her heart beat quickly with the tenderness of this moment, yet Emily was afraid that she would wake up and this would all just be a dream. She couldn't bear that. She couldn't bear the disappointment of losing Alison again.

"Come with me to Philadelphia tomorrow?" Alison said, her voice sounding almost as though she were pleading with Emily to come, "I wanna talk to Charlotte about it."  
Emily nodded, "Yeah of course." She smiled, "You know I like visiting Charlotte, despite her trying to saw me in half."  
"Oh come on, I saved you remember." Alison said joking, as a smile came to her lips for the first time.  
Emily's smile grew soft and warm, "Yeah... you always saved me. My own guardian Angel." Emily wrapped her arms around Alison's neck and felt Alison's arms wrap around her waist.

"I couldn't loose my mermaid." Alison replied leaning in and kissing her. The two stood softly kissing for another several minutes before Alison broke it, "Can I go to your house for a little bit? I'll text John and say that I went to Philadelphia to stay in our towne house so I could see Charlotte in the morning.  
Emily paused a minute, "Why don't we just do that? I just need to pick up a quick overnight bag at home and then we can Jet."

Alison's smile grew bigger, "Ok. Whatever you say." She kissed her again and walked hand in hand with Emily to the street where her car was.  
The pair drove quickly to Emily's house. Her mother had left earlier that day to go on a "Gold Star" wives tour to different Army Bases. Emily had actually talked her into it because she knew her dad would want Pam to stay active within the Army family who loved her. So there was no one at the house when Emily and Alison pulled into their driveway. Emily smiled at her, "Come on in." She unbuckled herself and got out of the car.

Alison didn't hesitate to follow her as she got out and the pair walked to her door. Emily put the key in and opened the door. She let Alison walk in first before walking in herself and shutting the door and turning the lights on. Before she knew it Alison had her pressed against the door and was on her tip toes with her lips pressed against Emily's and her hands moving down Emily's body and around to the curve of Emily's ass in her tight jeans.

Lust and hunger took over as Emily returned Alison's hungered and passionate kiss. This wouldn't be the first time the pair had been intimate, but it was the first time they actually knew what it meant. Emily spun Alison around so she was the one pushed up against the door and her hands pulled up Alison's skirt and her hands rested on the bare flesh of Alison's rear. She was only wearing a yellow lace thong underneath and it left her soft rear exposed for Emily's hands to grip.

After a moment of passionate kissing and the pair getting heated Emily broke the kiss for a moment, "I.. I should get my stuff. We can continue this when we get there and we have all night." She kissed Alison passionately again.  
Alison whimpered a bit but nodded as she tried to adjust herself. She picked up her phone and started texting her husband as she walked up the stairs to Emily's bedroom. She put her phone in the pocket and looked at Emily bent over, "It is such a good thing you aren't wearing a skirt right now because my face would be buried so far in your pussy you wouldn't be able to walk tomorrow."  
Emily smirked as she looked back at Alison, "Patience Ali." She looked back at her bag and stood up before walking over to one of her night stands and pulling out a few toys, "So... which do you like?" She asked perking an eyebrow at Alison as she watched her blonde Angel walk over and look at the selection. Emily smirked, "Relax, I haven't used these with anyone else, so no Paige or Sara germs."

Alison laughed, "MMM The pink one and the strap-on." She said in a husky voice.  
Emily's eyebrow perked as Alison voiced her choices, "Well well, look who's been expanding their comfort zones." She smiled grabbing what Alison had requested and tossing it in her bag. A moment later Emily zipped it closed and slung it over her shoulder before turning to Alison.

Alison stood with her keys in her hand, her blue eyes looking Emily up and down which only caused Emily to smirk, "You know you can do that for real when we get there."

Pink rushed to Alison's cheeks as she shifted her eyes quickly, "Do what? I wasn't doing anything."  
"yeah..." Emily said as she walked by Alison and out of her room with Alison following her as they walked downstairs and towards the door, "...'cause you weren't just undressing me with your eyes."  
Alison bit her lip as the pair walked out of the Fields' house, "Mayyybeee." She said in a long drawn out tone.  
The girls got into Alison's car and she started it pulling out of the driveway and onto the street. The pair were trying so hard to avoid anything that might lead them into a sexual conversation but it was difficult. Their emotions were so charged up that it was making the sexual energy surrounding them very charged. It was going to be a long 20 miles. The pair talked about everything, from what had led Alison to the decision to leave Rollins, to what Emily was expecting at her Military Occupational Specialty School, anything that would pass the time was up for grabs at this point.  
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Alison's car pulled into the driveway of their town house in Philadelphia. At the same time her phone chimed signifying that she had a text message from her husband. Emily picked up the phone to read it to Alison while she put the car in park and turned off the engine, "Ok hon. Be safe and have fun." Emily couldn't help but laugh.  
"Don't you dare text anything mean back." Alison said with a giggle, "I know that laugh Fields!"

Emily got out of the car and grabbed her bag out of the back seat before shutting the door, "What?" She said trying to stay innocent, but the smile never left her lips, "All I was going to type back was, 'I will. Gonna spend the night eating out.' That's all."

Alison's eyes got large and a smile came to her lips, "NO! Do not write that." She giggled rushing over to grab her phone.  
Emily gave it back and the two walked into the house. Emily tossed her bag on the floor while Alison turned the lights on and disabled the alarm before shutting and locking the door. She smiled turning around, "Ok... so here we are."  
Emily turned around and smiled walking over and pressing a passionate kiss to Alison's lips as her arms slipped around the blonde's torso and pulled her close. No words passed between them as both their eyes drifted shut completely wrapped up in the moment of each other. Alison breathed Emily in and her body relaxed surrendering to Emily's touch. Alison was a girl who had to be in control all the time. In almost every aspect of her life, but the bedroom was the one place she felt comfortable enough to let go and surrender to her lover. She didn't do it with everyone. In fact she'd never done it with her husband, but with Emily it was easy.

Emily felt Alison's body relax and almost pass the message of her submission without even saying a word and before long Emily picked Alison up and pushed her against the door they had just come in. The house was small and they had come into the side door, which left them in the dining room. The chandelier style light offered soft illumination over both of them as it hung above the solid wooden table.  
"Take me..." Alison moaned softly against Emily's lips, as she wrapped her legs around Emily's waist. Emily intensified her kiss, Alison's words were all she needed as she brought Alison over and laid her down on the dining room table. She stood up, with Alison's legs still wrapped around her waist and pulled off, first her shirt, and then her bra before bending back down and kissing Alison. Both garments ended up on the floor.  
Alison's hands came up and cupped each one of Emily's soft breasts, gently. She massaged the soft flesh and let her hands roam all over Emily's dark skin. Her body was on fire with need, she felt a craving inside of her unlike anything she'd ever felt save for one time after she'd gotten home when the pair of them had slept together for the first time. Alison never felt this sort of intensity for her husband.

Emily pulled Alison up and pulled her shirt off, unhooking the yellow bra immediately after and threw both on the floor. Emily's lips returned to Alison's neck, kissing and softly nipping the flesh there making a soft moan come from Alison's throat, but that wasn't what Emily wanted. She wanted to hear her scream. She wanted to hear Alison scream her name while she came so hard she forgot her own.  
Alison moaned as she felt Emily's hands on her breasts, her love's lips kissing down into the valley between them before wrapping around one of her hard nipples and sucking on it and teasing it with her tongue. Alison arched her back and moaned loudly. Her body was on fire in a way it never had been before. Even when Emily and she had slept together in high school. This was something completely new because they knew what it meant.  
Emily's fingers danced up Alison's thighs pushing the skirt up as they went. They softly drew small circles on the soft flesh of the inside of Alison's creamy white thighs, which only made Alison get wetter and wetter by the moment. Finally Emily's fingers softly traced the outside of Alison's wet core through the thin material of her thong, which made Alison whimper.  
Emily's fingers suddenly left Alison's legs and she unbuttoned her own jeans and pushed them down her toned, tanned legs before dropping her panties off too and kicking them both away. She looked down at Alison with hunger in her eyes. Alison's look was that of need and desire and Emily loved the fact that it was because of her. Alison's blue eyes went up and down her love's body before she spoke, "Don't you dare stop Fields..." Alison said more begging than she was demanding, "I need..." She stopped as Emily's lips wrapped around her nipple and sucked on it gently before nipping at it with her teeth.

"What do you need?" Emily asked wanting to hear the mighty Queen Bee beg for it. She wanted to hear Alison so turned on that she had to beg for what she wanted Emily to do.

"Please... ugh..." She moaned as Emily bit her nipple and pulled on it slightly.  
"Come on... I wanna hear it. I wanna hear you talk like a dirty slut." Emily said in a dominant, yet loving tone. She would never dream of calling Alison a slut. In fact she'd gotten in a fight with someone in high school who had suggested it once, but in the bedroom she was taking the dominant role and she didn't think a little name calling would hurt.  
Hearing Emily call her names made Alison wetter (if that was even possible). She loved being taken control of in bed so what Emily was doing to her was making her so hot she wanted more. Finally she caved. She just couldn't take the blissful torture anymore, "God Emily, I want you to fuck me like a dirty bitch. I want you to fuck me until I can't remember my name!"

Emily grinned triumphantly as she dropped to her knees pulling Alison's body to the edge of the table and ripping her thong off. Once Alison's thong was off and her bare, shaved wet pussy was exposed, Emily's tongue quickly found Alison's clitoris and began teasing it and sucking on it before she ran her tongue up and down the length of Alison's wetness in a wave-like pattern. She even went back and licked Alison's ass slightly to see just how far Alison was willing to go.

Alison propped herself up on her elbows and looked down at Emily, watching her mermaid please her. Her chest was turning pink the more Emily continued to tease her. It wasn't until Emily stopped that Alison whimpered, "Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me!" She said before looking over to see Emily grabbing her bag. She pulled out a pink vibrator and slid it up and down Alison's wetness before she put her tongue back on her clit and slowly pushed the toy deep into her wet hole.  
Alison arched her back, "HOLY FUCK!" She screamed as she dropped her head to the table and reached down, her fingers knotting in Emily's hair as she felt her soul mate pleasure her in ways she'd never felt before.  
Alison's body began to shake harder and harder as Emily fucked her with the pink toy and her tongue worked her clitoris hard and fast. Finally Alison couldn't hold it anymore and she came, hard. As she did she screamed Emily's name, exactly what Emily wanted. Alison had never come so hard in her life, she actually was seeing stars as a result of the orgasm.  
Emily pulled the toy out of Alison and started sucking it clean while Alison recovered. It was only a moment before Alison sat up and pulled Emily up, locking her lips with Emily's kissing her passionately tasting herself on Emily's tongue and lips.

"How was it?" Emily asked with a smirk, not that she needed to know. Alison's body had told her everything she needed to know but she wanted to hear Alison say it.

Alison's hands went through Emily's hair as she smiled at the woman she loved, her blue eyes beaming, "That was amazing. I have never in my life cum that hard! No one does to me what you do baby."

Alison managed to scoot off the table and pushed her skirt down before grabbing Emily's hand and pulling her over to the couch in the next room. She kissed her passionately before pushing her down on the couch and slowly kissing her way from Emily's feet up her legs to her wetness. She could feel the heat radiating off of Emily and her tongue slowly swirled around the outside of her lover's wetness, "Is this what you want Mistress?" She said with a wicked twinkle in her eye.

Emily could only moan and nod as she gripped her own breasts, pinching her nipples slightly as they hardened. As Alison's tongue actually moved the length of her wet pussy she couldn't help but moan loudly, "Ohhh fuckkk..." She cried and arched her back but soon scooted herself up the couch so she could look down at the beautiful blonde goddess who was attending to her desires.

Alison moved her tongue, not quite as skillfully as Emily but close as she swirled around Emily's clitoris and she slowly inserted a finger into her lover. She was rewarded with a deep moan from Emily and she kept working on Emily's wetness. She moved another finger into her and started sucking on Emily's clit more intensely as she watched Emily react to it. She could feel her love growing closer and she wanted to be the reason she called out. Her fingers worked in and out of her at a breathtaking pace before Alison felt Emily's legs wrap around her body and pull her close, her hand reaching down and pushing Alison's face against her pussy harder as her body began to shake and every muscle went rigid.  
Emily felt like she would explode as she screamed out Alison's name, not caring who heard them. She felt her body release and she knew that she had flooded Alison's mouth with her orgasmic juices but she didn't mind. She loved that thought actually and as Alison came up licking her fingers and her own lips Emily frantically sat up and pulled her in for a kiss. The two kissed, their tongues wrestling for dominance before Alison scooted in next to Emily and laid in the tanned girl's arms resting her head on Emily's chest.

"That was amazing." Emily said with a soft smile.

"It was the best I've ever had and it's because I love you." Alison replied equally as soft placing a gentle kiss on Emily's lips.

Emily closed her eyes and snuggled down with Alison.  
"You aren't tired are you?" Alison asked with a perked eyebrow as she looked at Emily.  
Emily just shook her head with a content smile on her lips.

"Good because we aren't even close to done Fields." Alison said with a smile, "You haven't even fucked me with your strap-on yet."  
Emily smiled wickedly at Alison knowing that they were going to be in for an amazing night. A night of passion and love, the first of many as Emily realized that this was real, they were really going to be together and nothing could stop that, not even Rollins.


	8. Peace of Mind

**Another Update of the story. Thank you so much for your support! Please keep reviewing as it gives me encouragement and tells me if you are really enjoying the story or not. I'm going to be developing several things going forward, mainly the deteriorating relationship with Rollins and the growing relationship with Alison. Emily's leave is starting to run short... what will happen next?**

The next morning Emily woke before Alison did. She expected it would be that way. She was far more physically fit and used to that sort of physical exertion than Alison was. She knew after their fun the previous night, that Alison would be tired, and sore. So Emily had padded her way downstairs to make coffee for them both. The advantage of having worked at the brew for so long began to come in handy. She knew Alison's coffee order by heart and so it was easy to make. She brought it upstairs and sat down on the bed putting the coffees on the night stand.  
Emily wore nothing but tank top as her tan body contrasted against the beige sheets. Her brown eyes looked at blonde hair that was spread across the pillow and the bare, pale back that poked out from under the sheets. Gently Emily's fingers weaved their way through Alison's golden locks. She hadn't ever felt this happy, this complete or her love for Alison so strong as it was in that moment. They were together, finally. They couldn't be public about it yet, but honestly she didn't really care. She and Alison were together. They had told each other they loved one another and they had meant it. Against all odds, Emily and Alison had found each other. Love was conquering all and it was an amazing feeling.

Gently Emily leaned down and kissed her sleeping angel on the cheek before moving her lips down her neck and nipping at her shoulder. Alison stirred gently rolling over. Her bare body was exposed from her naval up. Her breasts soft and gentle with softly erect nipples. Her lips were soft and beautiful, and as her blue eyes flipped open gently Emily once again saw all the beautiful love that Alison had for her behind those sapphire hues. Slowly Emily leaned down and kissed Alison softly on those beautiful bow lips that she loved so much.  
"Good morning Angel." Emily said softly, "How are you feeling?"

Alison closed her eyes again at Emily's kiss and took a deep breath, breathing in her love. Her heart leapt and she felt whole, warm, safe, and complete all at the same time, "Morning Mermaid." she said finally moving one of her hands up to comb Emily's hair behind her ear, her blue eyes gazing into Emily's browns, "I feel like I've been hit by a truck in the best way possible." She smiled, laughing lightly, "And I think I smell coffee."  
"MM you do." Emily said bringing her cup over.

Alison sat up and brought the sheet up under her arms covering her chest. It wasn't that she was suddenly embarrassed at showing her body to Emily, quite the opposite, but she knew they would want to focus on getting up and ready to go for the morning and she knew Emily well enough to know that if she'd remained topless in front of her much longer, Emily would attack her and make her scream her name again. Instead she took the coffee and took her first sip almost feeling its effects immediately, "MMM Perfect."

"Of course it's perfect." Emily said playfully, "I worked at the brew for how long?"

Alison nodded, "I know you did Mermaid." She smiled warmly at Emily and sipped her coffee, "I have to say that waking up this way is far better than waking up to him stomping around the house getting ready for work." She shook her head, "And he never brought me coffee. That's why we got a Kurig."

Emily shook her head, "I'm not saying a word Ali."

Alison almost giggled, "it's ok, you can. I'm divorcing him remember?"  
Emily shook her head, "No, I'm sure whatever I'm thinking, Charlotte will say anyway." She paused, "Speaking of, how do you expect to get both of us in to see her if Rollins is her doctor?"  
"He's got the day off and I'm going to sign you in under the name "Estelle Golightly"." Alison explained simply. She had it all figured out, but there was nothing new about that, "And Charlotte won't give you away. So you're safe."

Emily nodded and sipped her coffee. This felt so right. She couldn't explain how right it felt, to be sitting in bed with Alison, sipping coffee. It seemed so domestic, but Emily was more than ok with it. This was what she'd waited for years for. It was what she had dreamed about since before Alison's disappearance and "death". She had always regretted that she hadn't taken Alison up on her offer to go with her after she'd saved Emily from the barn, but she had been so out of it from the car fumes that she couldn't think straight. It wasn't until after she'd come to for a second time and Alison was gone that she realized that it wasn't a dream. Alison had really been there. She could still taste her lip gloss on her lips. That was when she knew Alison was alive.

Now, not only was she alive, but Alison was laying beside her, sipping coffee after a night of heated passion. This was what she'd always wanted. This was as absolutely perfect as life got. Nothing could be better than this moment right then and Emily knew it. She sat, holding her coffee as her brown eyes beamed with love at the blonde she'd sacrificed so much for, "I love you so much."  
Alison smiled and nodded slightly, "I love you too Mermaid. I just am sorry it took me this long to figure it out."  
Emily shrugged and reached and gently ran her fingers through Alison's blonde locks, "It's ok. We are here now and that's all that matters. The truth was, we both needed to really discover who we were before we could be together like this. For me it has never been a question of whether I love you or not, or how much. But I know that you have had a lot more to figure out."

Alison shook her head, "No, Em." She paused setting her coffee down for a minute, "It wasn't that. I knew I loved you the moment I left Rosewood. Remember that picture I always carried? You don't know how many times I cried myself to sleep with that picture curled close to me and while Spencer was in it too, the one I was crying about was you." Alison's eyes shifted from her hands up to Emily's eyes, "I have always loved you Emily Fields, I just needed to stop being afraid of it."

Emily smiled and kissed Alison softly but with much love as their lips locked together and eyes drifted shut, once again breathing each other in. The kiss lasted for minutes before Emily finally pulled away and put her coffee down, "Let me shower real quick. It's already after nine-thirty." She smiled and padded into the bathroom leaving Alison to sip her coffee.

Emily showered quickly and then Alison took her place while Emily put on a pair of jeans, knee high boots, a t-shirt and tied a flannel shirt around her waist. She left her hair down and played with the purple braclet around her wrist that said "Emily". It was stained with dirt, and the white lettering had turned almost brown from everything that she'd gone through, but she would never take it off if she didn't have to.

Emily heard Alison's phone go off before heading downstairs to see what was there for breakfast or if they should just grab something on the way when suddenly she heard Alison's voice call down, "Hey Em? I thought we were done with the random notes and follow the clues stuff?"

Emily's brow furrowed, "We are. What are you talking about?" She started to head towards the stairs, taking them two at a time as a nervous feeling started to grow in the pit of her stomach. She hadn't sent anything to Alison's phone or left her any notes, so she had no idea what Alison was referring to, but this all sounded far too familiar.

"Then what's this?" Alison asked as she handed Emily her phone. Alison was standing with her blonde hair wrapped up in a towel and another towel wrapped around her naked body standing in the hall outside her room.  
Emily looked at Alison's phone and shook her head as she read the text from a "blocked" number.

 _You aren't as sneaky as you think.  
Enjoy your get-away  
You might want to make it a run-away_

 _because I'm going to kill you when you get back."  
kisses -A_

The look of horror instantly overtook Emily's face as her brown eyes went from the screen of Alison's phone to Alison's eyes, "I... I didn't send this!" She bit her lip as her stomach went into knots, "And I don't know who did, but this.. this can't be happening again!"

Alison nodded, "I can't run gain."  
"I wouldn't let you if you tried." Emily said firmly, "We'll figure this out! I promise we will!"

Alison took her phone back, still visibly shaken and walked back into the bedroom and started getting dressed. It didn't take her long to put on a pair of blue pants, a white shirt and a light blue jacket. It took her longer to put on her make-up, which she wanted to be absolutely perfect for Emily, than it did to choose her outfit for the day. But within a half hour Alison was ready to get her day going and visit her sister with the love of her life.

Within an hour of having received the strange text Alison and Emily were sitting outside on a bench with Charlotte. Charlotte seemed like she was doing much better than the last time Emily had seen her and the older blonde was proud of Emily for her accomplishments in the Army, but it didn't take her long to figure out that both her sister and Emily were visibly shaken.  
Charlotte sat down on the bench across from her sister and Emily, "What's up?" She asked looking at them, "Something's wrong."  
Alison swallowed, "Charlotte... we... this isn't why we came originally but, do you know who would be sending us threatening messages?"

Charlotte looked shocked as Alison handed her sister her phone. Charlotte read the message that Alison had gotten and shook her head, "I don't know who this is." Her eyes looked up at Alison and Emily, "I swear I don't know who this was! Do you think Mona's back at it again?"

Emily shook her head, "I doubt it, she's in New York trying to get some sort of job in public affairs. She wouldn't risk that by messing with Ali."

"Never underestimate the anger of a crazy bitch with an agenda." Charlotte warned handing Alison her phone back, "But I think you're right at this point. I don't think she'd risk it at this point. " She sighed for a moment, "If you get any more of these, take them to the police! It's too dangerous to try and keep this to yourselves again."  
Alison nodded and looked at Emily biting her lip slightly before casting her blue eyes back on her sister. Emily only nodded her encouragement as Alison pulled the manila envelope out of her bag. Charlotte looked at the envelope and then at the two girls sitting across from her before playing with a strand of blonde hair, "So... why did you guys come here?"

"Charlotte... I... I am going to divorce John." Alison's voice was shaky but with one look at Emily her strength started to come back, "These are the papers. I just wanted to know what you thought of it." Charlotte's opinion was now one of the most important in her life, except for Emily.

Charlotte sat for a moment, her eyes narrowing slightly, "You... you two hooked up didn't you?" A smile came to her lips, "Yeah! You guys totally did it! Wow... I would have never pegged you for an adulteress, Ali.. but with him, I don't blame you." She folded her hands, "Look, I've been working with Rollins for a while, and just remember that he was Mona's doctor too. That's two strikes, and if you're going to divorce him; I'm going to guess you found strike three."

Emily nodded along with Alison as she began to explain the entire situation about how Rollins had been controlling her and her contact with her friends. She explained what Hanna had told her about Emily's jacket, and then about all the pictures that Rollins had made her take down. All of them had Emily in them. With each part of the story Emily found herself growing more and more angry with Rollins for treating Alison like this. She wasn't angry for herself, she had what she had always longed for. She had Alison's love, but they still had to deal with Rollins himself.

Charlotte just sat and listened and nodded, "That doesn't shock me. He's pretty overbearing. I've been dealing with him for a while and he's the same when he's here. He rarely lets his patients make any decisions for themselves, he gets off on being in charge, I swear he does!" Emily grimaced at that image but Charlotte merely continued, "I fully support you divorcing that piece of shit." She smiled, "But enough about that... tell me about this!" She said pointing to the two of them, "So when did you and Americano get together and why the hell did it take so long?!"  
The girls spent the next hour or so talking about their relationship, filling Charlotte in on everything and explaining what they were going to do about it, and took a few ideas about how to deal with it until Alison's divorce finalized and they could go public with their relationship. Perhaps the most reassuring thing that Charlotte told them was that she always thought they belonged together. Emily couldn't help but beam as Charlotte told them how excited she was.

The trip had been worth it, at least as far as Emily was concerned. It gave Alison the peace of mind that she needed to hand the papers to Rollins and giving both of them peace of mind that their relationship was the right thing. It was what they should have done. They were meant for each other and they weren't the only ones who knew it. Now Alison just had to find the right time to do it, and then she could shift her focus to spending her life with Emily and as they drove back from the mental hospital, that was what preoccupied Alison's mind.


	9. Brutal Confrontation

**Hey all! I'm happy to have this one posted on the heels of the last one! This chapter isn't a pleasant one and I know it has some controversial material in it. Please know that I don't support this sort of behavior at all and am not advocating it! I know that Emily isn't in this chapter, but don't worry it's worth it.  
Again thank you so much for all the support and I hope you guys are liking it. Reviews are always welcome! It helps me know what you guys like and sometimes gives me ideas :D **

A couple days had passed. Emily hadn't seen Alison since their trip to Philadelphia, but they had been texting pretty regularly and exchanging snap-chats and such. Alison had yet to give the papers to Rollins mainly because the text she'd gotten still had her rattled, even though Spencer had told her that it was most likely bored kids or someone hacking her phone, but it was a harmless prank and not to worry about it, but for Alison, it was very real given what they had gone through in their teenage years.

Finally Alison had worked up the courage to give Rollins the papers. Emily had offered to be there when she did it so that Rollins wouldn't loose his temper and hurt her, but Alison said that she was confident that he might yell and scream but he'd never hurt her. Alison had also been very careful to not leave any photos of Emily laying around, even though she'd been stockpiling them in the bottom of her closet. She'd even started wearing her rings again just to avoid any unpleasantries, but she knew time was ticking. Emily's leave was running out and she knew her Mermaid would be leaving for Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri to begin her training as military police officer. She didn't have a lot of time with her, so she had to pull the trigger on divorcing Rollins now.  
Alison had gotten home before Rollins as usual and she sat at the breakfast bar sipping a cup of coffee as she saw the headlights of her husband's car turn into their driveway. Her heart started beating faster and faster as she knew that an argument was coming. She picked up her phone and opened a text screen.

 _Angel: John's home. I'm about to give him the paperwork. I'll call you after. I love you Mermaid. 3_

 _Mermaid: Alright babe. I hope it isn't too bad. You're doing the right thing. I'm always here for you. Love you too Ali."_

With that Alison turned her phone to silent and sat there taking a deep breath as she heard Rollins walk in the front door. As always he would put his briefcase down and hang his coat up before walking into the kitchen to ask Alison what was for dinner, but there was no dinner ready that night, as there hadn't been dinner ready for the past few nights because Alison was stick of being his domestic housewife. She had no problem with the idea of being Emily's domestic housewife, but she would be Rollins' no longer.  
Sure enough Rollins rounded the corner and was about to ask what was for dinner when he saw Alison sitting at the breakfast bar in a blue cardigan sweater over a white 1950s style dress that she'd worn to school that day to prepare her curriculum. She still had another week before school started but Alison was already busy working on her curriculum for the year.

Rollins' face contorted in confusion and slight irritation, "Alison... what's going on?" He asked taking a few cautious steps forward as he took his suit coat off and tossed it on the counter.

Alison took one more breath as she pushed the envelope towards him, "John... I'm filing for divorce."

Rollins looked at her as anger began to flash in his eyes, but there was no surprise in his expression, "What the hell are you talking about? I know we've been distant the past few weeks but I figured it was just a phase and we'd move past it."

Alison shook her head, her voice remaining strong and calm despite how scared she was, "John it's more than that. I know you threw out the blue jacket Emily gave me, and I know you've been trying to keep me from seeing her."  
"Yeah! For your own protection. That girl is obsessed with you, it's unhealthy." Rollins said, trying to spin the situation to his advantage as he looked at the papers and tossed them back on the counter.

"No John. You know that's not true." Alison was trying to keep her resolve, but the more he tried to control her and spin the truth against Emily the angrier she got, "Emily is a sweet girl and a dear friend and you have been keeping me from seeing her and trying to wipe her from my life all together."  
"Alison that's crazy." Rollins said taking a step closer to her, "You can't leave me! Who's gonna pay for this house if you do?"

"This house is mine." Alison said, the anger starting to take over her voice, "and I think you need to leave." She knew that he was about to blow his stack and sure enough his next actions would set the tone for the rest of the discussion.

Rollins swung his arm in an angry manner as he knocked off the vase with the flowers Emily had sent to Alison and it smashed on the floor. Water covered the tiles and the white roses laid on the floor as though the first casualty of this, "Bullshit! What did that dyke tell you? Huh? Did she tell you I was so big and bad? You'll never be happy with her you know. I know you. You love cock, so what are you gonna do when she can't get you where you wanna be?" Maybe the sexual angle wasn't the right one to work with Alison, but it was the avenue he was going for now.

"That has nothing to do with this!" Alison exclaimed loudly, "I can't believe you would either. Is that really all you care about? Getting your dick wet?"

"Don't push me Alison!" Rollins warned.  
"John. It's over. We're done and you need to leave." Alison replied plainly, though their voices were getting heated.

"And what are you gonna do if I don't blondie huh?" Rollins said, "You know that I can stop any progress your sister has of getting released from there. I can see to it she never leaves and that her visitation privileges are revoked! Do you really want this to end badly for Charlotte?"

"Charlotte understands what this means. That's why I went to Phili the other day. I told her about this and she fully supports it, and she's filing for another doctor." Alison explained, "You will have no more control over her John."

Rollins was furious that Alison had gone over his head with this and that she was prepared to completely cut him out of her life without so much as a tear shed. It was something he just couldn't abide. He felt this welling up in him since he'd seen Alison sitting with the envelope and now he couldn't take it anymore. With one quick move Rollins had moved his arm and backhanded Alison hard enough to knock her to the floor. She cried out as Rollins looked down at her, "You bitch. You think you can just cut me out like this? Not gonna happen! 'Til death do us part, remember?"

By this point Alison had stood back up, her lip split open, "John... Don't..."  
Before Alison could get the rest of the sentence out, Rollins had struck her again. This time it was higher and Alison knew that her pale skin would have a bruise on it. She stood there, glaring defiantly at him, "You're only going to hurt your own case if you do this." Her voice was quaking as she spoke and her face hurt.

Rollins was seeing red as he struck her again, and again and again. For twenty minutes, which felt like forever, Rollins beat on Alison until finally she was laying in the corner of her kitchen, blood coming from her lip, her eyebrow split open and her hair completely disheveled. Her entire face was bruised and she knew there would be a few bruises on her ribs as well, but thankfully Rollins had left, leaving the papers on the table. This was what Emily had been afraid of and she had told her it wouldn't happen. How foolish could she be?  
Alison cried quietly, though it hurt to cry at all. There was only one thing she wanted in that moment. She wanted Emily, she needed Emily. She crawled over to where she found her phone, the screen shattered but she could still read the messages as she slowly and weakly sent her a text.

 _Angel: SOS_

Alison set the phone down and laid on the floor trying to get the strength to actually get up. She knew she'd feel better once her Mermaid was there.


	10. Bump in the Night

**I wanna thank everyone for your amazing reviews. I know the last few chapters have been emotional roller-coasters and I'm going to try and keep that going. This one picks up where the last one left off and ends with quite a bang.  
Again reviews are welcomed and encouraged! :D Glad everyone is enjoying it!**

It had taken Emily less than five minutes to jump in the car and speed down the road to Alison's house despite it being on the other side of town. She knew that when all she got from Alison was SOS, that her confrontation with Rollins hadn't gone well, but she wasn't ready for what she was going to find when she arrived. She had barely parked her car when she ripped the keys out of the ignition and rushed out of the door. She got to Alison's front door and didn't even bother to knock as she rushed in. The only lights that were on in the entire house were the hall light and the light coming from the kitchen. Emily walked in and looked in the kitchen but there was no sign of Alison.

"Ali?" Emily called out but before she heard an answer she heard a soft cry coming from Alison's living room. Slowly she walked in and turned on a light on an end table casting a little light on Alison. She sat in the dress she'd worn to school, crying as she held a towel to her bleeding eyebrow.

"I'm so stupid." Alison's voice was soft, "You were right Em..."

The anger instantly spiked inside of Emily seeing Alison's face bruised and eyebrow bleeding. Her brown eyes were fixated with absolute rage as her fists balled up and she started shaking. How dare he! However the caregiver in Emily came out first since Rollins was not in the immediate area. Slowly and gently Emily reached out and turned Alison's head towards her seeing the extent of the damage. Her fingers gently moved along Alison's jaw, feeling for any sort of breaks or any permanent damage that would require a doctor. After several minutes, satisfied that Alison wasn't in need of immediate medical care, Emily fetched some Band-Aids and a wet cloth to clean her beautiful Angel up. Not a lot was said, Alison mostly sat there, quietly sobbing as Emily tenderly cared for her.  
Finally when Alison's eyebrow had two butterfly Band-Aids on it and they had taken care of some of the bruising, Alison laid in Emily's arms on the couch in her living room. Emily spoke, "I want you to come stay with me, Ali." There was care in her voice but otherwise it was flat and void of any emotion.

"I can't." Alison said, "Your mother would never allow it since I'm married still."

Emily shook her head, "She doesn't have to know there's anything going on between us yet. You've been my friend for years. She'll be ok with it. We'll just have to sleep in different rooms." She sighed and kissed Alison gently on the head, "I also want you to get all the locks changed in this house."  
Alison nodded quietly, too shaken to argue otherwise. Her face was in an excruciating amount of pain and she was so upset, confused, and hurt. She had done the right thing, she'd done it the mature way, and yet it had still ended badly. Alison finally moved when Emily pulled out her phone, "What are you doing?"

"I'm calling Hanna." Emily said, "Two of us here is better than one." Emily put the phone to her ear and listened to it ring until Hanna picked up on the other end. "Yeah, Han.. it's Emily. I need you to come to Ali's house." There was a pause as Hanna spoke, "Yeah. Right now. I'll explain everything when you get here." After another moment Emily hung up and set the phone down.  
Alison looked up at her, though not without a great deal of pain, "Remember that time -A attacked me when I first got home and you rushed in and saved me?" her voice was weak but Emily could hear her as her tanned fingers gently raked through her golden locks.

"Yeah...I couldn't do anything else. I wish I'd gotten there sooner." Emily said recalling the incident. Alison had been forced to wear a scarf around her neck to hide the bruising for a few days after.

"I kept hoping that you would do it again. With every blow he struck I kept longing to see you coming through the door like you did that night." She bit her lip the tears starting to fall again, "But with every blow, I just kept telling myself that he can beat me, but he can never take you from me again."  
Emily smiled, a tear rolling down her cheek as she leaned down and kissed Alison's lips very gently as to hot hurt her. Still there was a wince of pain followed by the sound of the doorbell. Gently Emily moved Alison so she could slip out from underneath her and walked into the foyer and opened the front door.  
"So what's the big emergency and why is it so dark in here?" Hanna asked in usual Hanna style, loud and out there for everyone to hear.  
Emily shut the door, "Alison served Rollins the divorce papers tonight."  
"And?"  
Emily walked into the living room and turned on the main light as Alison sat up looking at Hanna with a bruised and swollen face. It hurt Emily to see Alison like this, and made her angry all over again. Hanna just gasped before running over and hugging Alison, "Oh my God, Ali! What the hell?"  
"I figured two of us would be better than one against him if he decides to come back." Emily said.

"But don't you have your Army kung-fu or some shit?" Hanna asked, her arm still around Alison's shoulders.  
"There's always strength in numbers Hanna, or don't you remember high school?" Emily turned and walked into the kitchen turning on a kettle of hot water to heat for tea. She knew it would help calm Alison down and maybe get her to sleep that night.

A few moments later Hanna walked in, her coat off and her phone and purse out in the living room, "So what's your plan?" she asked leaning on the breakfast bar where the papers were still scattered.

"We're going to get Ali to sleep and then you're gonna stay with her while I go find Rollins and beat him to within an inch of his fucking life." Emily responded, the anger still very present, but also the frustration at herself that she hadn't been here to do something about it.  
"Whoa! Wait... easy Em..." Hanna exclaimed, "You don't need to be doing any such thing. We'll call Toby and get the police involved."  
"Lot of good they'll do!" Emily snapped.  
"This isn't -A! This is some duche-bag with an anger problem. They can handle this." Hanna said taking a couple of steps forward, "Look, Em.. I know you aren't just mad at him. I've known you too long to not know what this is... You're mad at yourself because you couldn't save her. You shouldn't be. No one knew he was going to do this." Hanna's voice had soothed and it did help calm Emily down some as the teapot began to scream, "And you have a career to worry about."  
Emily nodded, "Yeah.. I.. I guess you're right. But if I see the mother fucker, I'm beating his ass. Period."  
Emily turned off the water and walked into the living room with it and Alison was still sitting on the couch just staring off into nowhere. It was almost like she was oblivious to the fact that Emily and Hanna were there at all. Emily made her a cup of tea and she took it before Emily made one for Hanna and herself. There was a long period of silence before the grandfather clock in the hall chimed the 9pm hour.

The three girls had sat up for a few more hours talking before Emily took Alison upstairs to get her ready for bed. Hanna stayed downstairs and called Caleb, telling him she wouldn't be home that night. Naturally he offered to come stay with them, but Hanna said they had it under control. They were planning on talking to Toby and the police in the morning. Em stayed upstairs with Alison and Hanna crashed on the couch watching TV.

The clock struck 1am and Hanna jarred awake. There was the sound of rattling from outside and she woke up fully and walked over to the door. It looked like someone trying to work the keys into the door. Finally it worked and the door opened and a man walked in quietly. The hallway and foyer were dark and he quietly closed the door. His tie was undone and his shirt was partially unbuttoned and his sleeves rolled up. He turned as though he were going to go up the stairs when Hanna turned the light on in the living room, "I had a feeling you'd be back."

"What the... Where's Alison?" Rollins asked, his voice loud but not booming.

"SHHHH We don't wanna wake them. Especially Emily. She's about ready to tear you limb-for-limb right now and I wouldn't blame her a bit." Hanna said with her arms folded across her chest, "But as much as I'd like to watch Emily dismember you, I don't want her going to jail, so what's gonna happen is you are going to leave. NOW." Her voice was even, but firm, "I happen to know Toby is working Graveyard tonight and I have a text already written. It will take him about five minutes to get here from the second I press send. Is that how you wanna end the night?"

Rollins was about to protest but shook his head, "Figures she'd call you sluts for help." His voice was biter as he started to turn and walk out.

"Oh!" Hanna said, "You might want this." She handed him the manilla envelope with the papers inside of it.

Rollins looked at it for a moment and snatched it out of Hanna's hand, "Tell Ali that I hope she enjoys her life as a Dyson carpet muncher."  
Hanna didn't even acknowledge that with a response as he walked out slamming the door as he went. Emily appeared at the top of the stairs, "What was that?!"  
"Nothing. I handled it." Hanna said deleting the text she had been ready to send to Toby.

Emily was already on her way down the stairs, "It was Rollins wasn't it?" She skipped the last step and her long legs carried her to the door, which she opened as the car peeled out of the driveway and sped down the street.

"It doesn't matter he's gone now." Hanna said.  
"Why didn't you wake me up!?" Emily asked standing on the porch illuminated by the light of the full moon.

"Because getting in a fight with him wouldn't have done anyone any good. Your career in the Army would have been over." Hanna said, "I dealt with it, don't worry. He won't be coming back."  
Emily turned and folded her arms over her chest, "I know but it would have made me feel better."  
Hanna walked up and put her hands on Emily's shoulders, "I know..."

The next morning Alison was up before either Hanna or Emily. The swelling in her face went down but the bruising was still very pronounced. She called the principle and told him what was going on and that she'd be doing some work from home but not actually coming into the school. So instead she walked around in a pair of Yoga pants and a tank top. Her hair was up in a ponytail as she turned on the pot for coffee, knowing that all three of them drank it.  
Quarter after Seven and Emily walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. Alison smiled as best she could seeing the woman she loved walk into her kitchen still wiping the sleep out of her eyes. Hanna was still sound asleep on the couch.  
"Morning Mermaid." Alison said softly as she leaned up and kissed Emily and handed her a cup full of coffee, "Don't think you're the only one who knows someone's coffee order by heart."  
Emily couldn't help but smile slightly as she took the first sip of her coffee, "Are you going to work?"  
Alison shook her head, "I already called in. I'm gonna do some stuff from home and I know you and Hanna want me to go to the police station today, so that's probably it. Then I'll pack a bag and come stay with you." She smiled softly and looked at the clock, "I'd just be leaving now actually."

Alison and Emily walked to the entrance to the kitchen just as a large explosion rocked the entire house knocking the two of them over and breaking their coffee mugs. It knocked several pictures off the shelf and Hanna awoke in a panic rushing to her friends as they stood up and looked out of the window and saw the huge black plume of smoke going up from what had once been Alison's car.  
"Oh my God Alison!" Hanna said wrapping her arm around Alison's shoulders while Emily just stared, holding Alison's hand.

"You would have been driving to work..." Emily said, "...that was supposed to kill you."  
Just as Emily finished her words the sound of sirens could be heard coming closer and then all three of their cell phones blipped with a new text message.

 _"And boom goes the dynamite. Next time the Queen gets it. -A"_


	11. To Tell or Not to Tell

**Following right on the heels of Chapter 10. The story continues, but how will it end? I think you guys will enjoy the next few chapters. Full of lots of lovey moments :)  
Thank you guys so much for your support and reviews. I love reading them it gives me encouragement to write more! **

Four hours had passed and Alison's yard was once again covered in policemen, cars with flashing lights, and yellow police tape. Alison stood at one end of the porch telling the cops what had happened the previous night with Rollins, and then what happened that morning, while Emily was standing by her mail box at the end of the driveway telling the police what they knew, and Hanna was off to the side telling the cops what she knew. Emily, as always, was constantly looking back to Alison to make sure her Angel was alright and then went back to explaining what had happened that night and into this morning.  
Finally around 11:30 in the morning, the cops left and Alison, and Emily walked back in. Hanna had gone home to change and get some rest. Emily closed the door and walked up behind Alison wrapping her arms around Ali's waist from behind as she softly kissed the side of Alison's head, "We should get you packed baby."

Alison put her hands on Emily's as soon as they came around her and she smiled softly feeling much safer in her Mermaid's arms, "Yeah.." She paused and turned around looking into Emily's eyes, "Have I told you how much I love you yet?"

"This morning... no." Emily said with a soft smile a bit of color coming to her tanned cheeks.

Alison draped her arms around Emily's neck, "I love you so much Emily Fields. I love you to the end of the Milky Way and back." She knew it sounded cheesy and sappy but she didn't care. She was in love and she didn't give a shit how she sounded.

Emily smiled, "And I love you more than anything in this world. You are part of my very being." Emily said with a smile as she leaned down and pulled Alison into a gentle, loving kiss. They stood there for several long moments wrapped up in each other before Emily accidentally squeezed too hard and Alison winced in pain, "Oh I'm sorry.."  
"It's ok Mermaid." Alison pecked Emily's lips again, "Let me jump in the shower and pack a bag and then we can head to your house?"  
"Ok. I'll shower once we get there." Emily said. Emily was nervous. She knew her mother would never approve of her having a relationship with Alison until Alison's divorce was finalized, but she was nervous that they were going to slip up. The blonde and the brunette were so in love that it was hard to act like they were back to just being friends. What would happen if Pam caught them kissing? And what was she going to do after the next nine days ran up and she had to go back to Missouri for training? She knew she could count on Hanna and Caleb and her mom to keep an eye on Alison but that wasn't going to watch her 24/7 and who knew what Rollins would do next. Emily chewed on her bottom lip as she texted her mom to let her know the basics of what was going on.

An hour later Emily and Alison walked into the Fields' home. Pam was washing dishes in the kitchen when the girls walked in and her face went completely mortified as Alison came into the light and the bruises became more apparent.

"Oh my Gosh!" Pam said, "Alison... have you talked to the police?"  
"Yeah Mom, the were there all morning after her car blew up." Emily said.

"What? You poor thing!" Pam was completely heartbroken for Alison. She had so many questions but she didn't want to bombard her.

"Mom, I was thinking Alison could stay here for a while if that's ok with you? I don't think it's a good idea to be in that house alone until she gets the locks changed." Emily said.  
Pam thought for a moment and then smiled, "Yeah that's fine. If you need somewhere safe, you're welcome here." She smiled warmly, "I'll go check on the guest rom. Em, can you come help?"

Emily looked at Alison with an expression that told Alison how much she loved her as she turned and followed her mom. Alison merely smiled and then found herself a chair to sit in until the two women came back. Pam and Emily walked into the guest room and Pam took the dustcover off of the bed, "What happened to her?"

"Her husband, soon to be ex-husband, did it when she told him she wanted a divorce." Emily explained, "The cops know everything."  
"Where's her husband now?" Pam asked wanting to make sure that they were safe.

"We don't know. The police have put out an APB for him but so far nothing. Toby said he'd call as soon as they knew anything." Emily replied.  
Pam paused, "Em... I know you still have feelings for Alison..."  
"Mom.." Emily tried to interject but Pam kept going.  
"But she needs your support as her friend right now. Remember she's still technically a married woman." Pam said as a sort of warning, "I just don't want to see you getting hurt."

 _'Or doing anything that might cause a stain on the family.'_ Emily thought but she merely nodded, "I know Mom. It'll be fine, I promise."

Pam and Emily walked back into the kitchen and found Alison patiently waiting. Alison smiled as Emily stood in the door, "Ok, room's ready." Emily looked at her mom who gave her a cautious look as the two girls headed off to the downstairs guest room.

Alison and Emily walked into the room and Emily purposely left the door open, "So feel free to use anything, the closet, or the dresser." She smiled putting her hands into her hip pockets.  
Alison set her bag down, "Come on, I'm not just some random guest staying for a week on vacation. I've been here before Emily." She said softly as she walked around the bed to where Emily stood.

"I know.." Emily said quietly, "But mom just gave me the 'she's still married' speech, so we have to be careful." The two weren't in sight of the door, so even if her mother walked by it'd be hard for her to see them unless she was really looking so Emily took the opportunity to walk over and place a soft kiss on Alison's lips, "I love you." She whispered before walking past Alison and out of the room.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing around the Fields' home. Alison worked on her lap-top creating activity sheets and lessons plans for the coming school year and Emily read up on some books that would give her a jump start on her military training. Sometime around three a knock came at the door. Pam was out grocery shopping so Emily opened the door. Alison laid on the couch, where the two girls had just been cuddling.

Toby walked in and took off his hat, "Hey Em. Ali here?"

"Yeah we're in the living room." Emily said leading Toby into her living room where Alison was sitting up and closing her laptop.

"Ali, we don't know where your husband is. The last place we knew where he was is him checking into a hotel at nine-thirty and then someone saw him leave around one, and saw him come back around one-fifteen." Toby explained what the police knew.

"What would have been when Hanna saw him." Emily said crossing her arms.  
"Yeah. The forensics people have examined the bomb device and it was pretty elaborate. It would have taken a while to put in place and get hooked up." Toby continued.  
"So what are you saying?" Alison asked trying to put the pieces together.

"It means that whoever bombed your car... it wasn't your husband." Toby said, "He wouldn't have had time to leave the hotel, come to your house, and get back to the hotel AND put the bomb on your car."  
"Who else could it have been?" Emily exclaimed suddenly worried that they now had two people they had to watch for instead of one.  
"We don't know and we aren't ignoring the fact that it could have been something your husband set up and someone else did the dirty work, but we can't ignore the fact that they aren't related." Toby said, "I know what this seems like. We have copies of both texts that you received. And we'll let you know more when we know it."  
"Thanks Toby." Emily said as Toby turned and walked out.  
Alison just sat, suddenly scared, just as scared as she'd been the day she'd disappeared all those years ago. Why was this happening again? She hadn't done anything to deserve it. She'd cleaned up her act, and had become much kinder and more compassionate towards people. So what was this person punishing her for now?  
Emily looked at Alison, "What are you thinking?" She asked sitting down next to Alison and taking her hand, "I know that look..."  
"I'm gonna have to hide again." Alison said almost absentmindedly.

"Ohhh no!" Emily said almost frantic as her heart started beating a mile a minute, "No no no! I lost you once Alison DiLaurentis and I'm not loosing you again!" There was a frantic and almost panicked tone in her voice as the events of her high school career began to flash before her eyes and that gnawing feeling started growing in her stomach as she realized she could loose Alison again, "Please Ali... Please... I can't do this again."  
The sound of Emily's final words snapped her out of her foggy haze and made her look at the woman she loved. What was she thinking? She couldn't leave again. She wrapped her arms around Emily's shoulders and neck and pulled her into a hug as Emily started sobbing, "Shhhh it's ok Mermaid. I'm not going anywhere. I promise." Alison said as she held Emily while Emily endured the panic and anxiety that living 3 years without Alison had done to her. It had broken her, leaving her a broken, petrified soul, and even the hint of loosing Alison was enough to throw her into a panic attack. That was how deep Emily's love for Alison was.


	12. While You Were Out

**Just a short little blip between Alison and Pam Fields. A little bonding time between Mamma Fields and Ali. Don't worry things will get going again soon.**

The clock chimed the hour from somewhere in the Fields' house. The lights were out and the house was quiet. Emily had passed out in her bed early and Alison had gone into the guest room to work on some lesson plans before she went to bed and Pam had gone upstairs to get some sleep. That was nearly two hours before. Now Alison snuck through the Fields' house with a dark coat on and a backpack on her back but as she slipped through the living room, seemingly unheard a light flipped on illuminating a figure on the couch.  
"Where are you going?" Pam asked from her spot on the couch. She had a US Army afghan tossed over her and she set her drink down on the table next to the light.

Alison had frozen like a deer in the headlights once the light came on and as she heard Pam speak she relaxed and looked at her, "I can't do this to them again... Whoever this is, is after me. Not them. I can't put them through this again."

Pam shook her head, "We all thought you were dead, and so did this.. A person and they still went after the girls. We've proven that you being here or not matters little to this psycho. I admire your desire to sacrifice yourself for the safety of the girls. You really have grown up Alison." she straightened up, "But sit down and let me tell you how much more damage you'll do if you walk out that door tonight." Alison bit her lip. She let the bag slide off her shoulder and she sat down in the closest chair to her. Pam straightened herself up, "I've always known that Emily has liked you more than a friend. I never really thought much about it when you all were younger. It wasn't until Emily told me that she was gay that I put the pieces together. I watched what happened to Emily after they thought they found your body. I was there with her at the funeral and let me tell you I have never seen that girl more broken than she was that day. Something changed in Emily that day. She only seemed half alive to me. Even when she was with Maya and Paige and all the others, Emily just wasn't the same, she wasn't full and bright. Every Friday after school she would dress in the same clothes she wore to your funeral and go to your grave and cry for hours and hours. I didn't even know that until Spencer brought her home one night." She paused and looked at Alison who was taking this all in, "I remember that about a year after your funeral a spark of the old Emily came back. I don't know what it was but something happened and a spark of the old Emily came back and I thought there might be a chance that she was coming back to us, but it never came back fully and actually took a big hit a year later." Pam said as Alison put the pieces together in her head. The first part had to have been when she saved Emily from the barn, and the next thing Pam referenced must have been when Spencer had broken up their meeting in the warehouse. A moment Pam spoke again, "And then when you came back everything went back to the way it was. Emily was happy, she was whole again. I had my daughter back. I thought that was it, I thought that was it. The panic attacks, the days she spent crying over the picture of you and her. I thought that she could finally get on with her life until one day she came downstairs and something inside of her broke and she dropped in the middle of the living room floor, not far from where you're sitting, and went into a full panic attack crying and sobbing, and hyperventilating. When I asked her what was wrong she just kept crying that 'She's dead... she's gone... oh my god she's gone.' even though you were very much alive. That was when I realized just how damaged Emily was from your death." Pam paused, "Those panic attacks were pretty regular when you were gone, but when you came back and they were still happening periodically I knew that only one thing would fix it and that was being with you." Pam took a drink and drained her glass of the liquor that was in it while Alison sat in the chair quietly crying. She knew that her absence had been hard on the girls, especially Emily but she didn't realize that it had been this bad. Pam took a breath, "I know your scared, and I'm not going to tell you what to do. You aren't a prisoner here, but if you really wanna do what's best for those girls... if you really want to do what's best for Emily, you won't run away on her again." Pam stood up and walked over towards the stairs, pausing a moment to put her hand on Alison's shoulder, "Because if you do, it might destroy her totally and there won't be any bringing her back this time." With that Pam went up the stairs leaving Alison in the living room alone crying.

Alison was scared, she was petrified of what this person wanted. This person was willing to blow up her car to kill her. What else would they do? Who else would they hurt? She couldn't loose any of them because of someone who wanted to hurt her. She thought about her darling Emily. The girl laying in her bed upstairs who had already been through so much and had nearly died because of her twice. Could Alison put her through anymore of that? She loved her so much, she couldn't bear the thought of getting hurt. So with her love in her heart, Alison picked up her bag and looked at the front door of the Fields' house with tears streaming down her cheeks, "I'm so sorry Emily..."


	13. The Very Next Day

**Another sort of peaceful chapter that follows right in from the last one. Thanks again for everyone's support and please keep the reviews coming! :D Emily's leave time is growing short, but not to worry! There will be another story coming after this one. Sort of a sequel. :D Enjoy everyone.**

Emily awoke with the sunlight pouring through her window. From somewhere she smelled toast and bacon drifting up the stairs, and of course the smell of hot coffee. She laid there for a moment until she remembered that Alison was in danger still. Her eyes popped open and she dived out of bed and ran down the stairs until she heard the sound of Alison's voice talking to Pam in the kitchen. She took a deep breath as her heart slowly began to calm down as she walked into the kitchen.

"Hey Killer." Alison said with a bright smile. Her bruises seemed to have faded a bit more but were still very present on her clear, pale skin.

"Hey..." Emily said, wanting to throw her arms around Alison and hold her close, but she knew that was out of the question until her mom had left the room.  
"Morning Em." Pam said handing her a coffee mug.  
"Morning mom." Emily said as she poured herself some coffee and started to mix her sugar and milk. She let it sit for a minute while she excused herself to the bathroom.

Pam looked at Alison, "Told you she still got scared."

Alison just nodded looking in the direction that Emily had gone, "Thanks... for talking me into staying."  
"I didn't talk you into anything Alison." Pam replied, "I just told you what your leaving once did to her. You did the rest." Pam smiled and headed towards the living room, pausing for only a moment, "Your love for Emily did the rest."  
Before Alison could reply Emily was back in the room and Pam was out in the living room turning on the morning news. Alison stood looking at her coffee and bit her lower lip. Did Pam know? Did Pam know that she and Emily had confessed their love for each other? She pushed the thoughts out of her mind and stepped in front of the refrigerator, which was out of sight of the living room and pulled Emily into a deep and passionate kiss ignoring the pain that was searing through her jaw at that moment.  
Emily let herself get caught in the moment for several seconds before Alison started to pull away, wincing slightly at the pain. Emily's eyes seemed brighter and her body far more relaxed. She smiled softly and the rays of light coming in the bay window behind Emily and streaming through her hair made her look absolutely beautiful as Alison stood there and looked at her.  
"Morning Mermaid." Alison said quietly so that Pam wouldn't hear her.

"Morning Angel." Emily whispered back feeling much better than she had when she woke up and had sprinted down the stairs afraid she'd lost Alison again.

Alison picked up her coffee mug and gazed gently at Emily. What she didn't realize was that Pam could see her from the living room now that she'd moved back from the refrigerator. There was something in Alison's gaze that Pam recognized. It was the way that Alison had always looked at Emily and the way that Emily had always looked at Alison. The love was still strong and that was what kept Alison from running off. Pam knew that once Alison knew the truth of what her disappearance had done, she would stay because Pam knew Alison couldn't put Emily through that again. The love that Alison and Emily had for each other was perhaps more beautiful than anything she'd ever seen.

"I've got to go into school for a few hours today." Alison said with a sigh, "Though I don't know how the hell I'm going to cover these bruises."

Emily sipped her coffee and nodded, "I'll go with you."  
Alison smiled, "Em, it's fine. I promise. It's a school, what can happen?" Alison loved that Emily was so protective of her. It was one of the most comforting things about Emily. She was always so caring and protective. It was just another one of the reasons Alison loved her.

"Ummm I was locked in and nearly killed by -A remember?" Emily said with a sarcastic laugh, "Which gave my dad a heart-attack..." She didn't say the last part too loud because she knew Wayne's death still bothered Pam and kept her up at night.

"Alright, alright. I just can't promise you any excitement." Alison said blandly.

Emily bit her lip to stop herself from saying anything inappropriate and Alison playfully swatted her, "I'd love to but I'm still really sore." Alison whispered knowing exactly what Emily was talking about.

Emily blushed slightly in response to what Alison had said but didn't say anything else. Instead the two turned their topic to something far more generic, so that Pam wouldn't get any indications that Emily and Alison were basically dating, even though Alison was still very much married. That was how the two spent their morning and Pam was happy to see Emily so full of energy and so full of life.  
Emily and Alison got in Emily's car, and drove to Rosewood High. Emily was careful to check for any signs of a bomb or anything like it but it was clear. The pair stopped on the way to grab coffees at the Brew and as they walked into Alison's classroom, which was once Ezra Fitz's classroom Emily sighed, "God, the memories that I have of this room."  
"Probably not all good." Alison said pulling open one of the drawers in her desk before setting her laptop up.  
"Few of them were good." Emily said sitting in the front desk, "Especially when we thought Ezra was A."

"I know, I still feel bad about that." Alison said, "He was harmless, even I knew that." She shrugged and cued something up on her laptop to print in the supply room.

"Yeah but at that point we had no leads and Spencer was dipping back into her Amphetamines habit again." Emily said

Alison nodded, "I know... I'm so glad she kicked that for good."

Emily nodded and took a deep breath, "Hey Ali..." Her voice was caring, but serious. She wasn't reminiscing anymore.

Alison stopped typing on her laptop and looked up at Emily who had gotten up and walked over to the window and was looking outside, "What Mermaid?" Alison asked, her voice soft and gentle.

"You know I have another eight days and I have to leave for Missouri, right?" Emily said, and it was clear that whatever she was about to say, it wasn't something she wanted to.  
Alison stood and walked over to Emily, "Yeah. I know, you have to go for training. It's ok there is Facetime, and Skype, and all sorts of things now to let us stay in touch." A warm smile drifted over Alison's bow shaped lips.

"I know but it's still a long time to wait and being a military spouse is a hard life. Remember I saw what it did to my mom." Emily explained, "So... if you don't want this life, I understand." It broke Emily's heart to say that, but she was in the Army, it was something that they had to talk about if their relationship was going to last.

Alison took Emily's hand much the same way she did outside of the Dollhouse when the girls had been freed, "Emily you have always been here for me. Even when I was 'dead', even after everything I'd done to hurt you, you stuck by me. That's what soul mates do." A soft smile came to Alison's lips, "I knew when I told you I loved you the other night at the kissing rock what it would mean to be with you. I want to be with you. YOU, Emily Catherine Fields, and I accept everything that comes with it. I don't mind being an Army wife... err.. girlfriend." Alison's face turned a bit red, despite the bruises that Alison had done her best to cover up with concealer, "I love you. I love you so much forever. I'm not going anywhere, I promise. I'm yours for as long as you'll have me."

Hearing Alison say that made Emily's heart jump. Emily needed to hear that. The phrase "Army Wife" even made the butterflies in Emily's stomach go wild. How could she have picked a more perfect woman? All the longing and waiting, and torture had paid off, it had all been worth it. Alison was well worth it! Emily leaned down and kissed Alison softly, but happily and with all the love she had for her. She let her hand wrap around Alison's waist gently holding her close until they both seemed to remember that no one in the school knew about Alison's divorce yet and it might look weird if someone caught them.

Alison smiled walking back go her desk and sitting down to once again work on school stuff while Emily sat in the front desk and the two made idle chit-chat for the rest of the day. It was quiet and thankfully there were no new messages from -A or anything of the sort. It seemed Emily and Alison would finally be allowed to enjoy their first day together as girlfriends.


	14. What Would Mommy Say?

**Here y'all go! :D Another update. This one has a little bit more going on, but not much. I'm kinda stuck on story for the moment but I've got some stuff in mind that I'm going to be sticking into the story here and there. Not to worry it's not going to become boring. I want to thank everyone for posting your amazing reviews. Your support means the world to me and keeps me inspired to keep writing. Love you all!**

Emily tossed and turned, mumbling something in her sleep as the moonlight poured in through her windows. She was trapped in some sort of horrible nightmare, with no means of escape it seemed. Louder she screamed until she finally woke up completely drenched in sweat. She looked around her dark room and flew for the door, opening it and half expecting there to be a concrete wall on the outside but was relieved when it opened up into her hallway. She took two quick steps across the hall and shut the bathroom door before melting down the wall as she sobbed loudly. The nightmares from the Dollhouse still hadn't subsided, even six years later.

Downstairs, Alison had been laying in her bed sleeping when she heard the scream from upstairs. She recognized it as Emily but in her half awake state she tried to really pin-point what was going on. She heard the door shut upstairs and that was enough to get her to swing her legs out of bed and walk through the living room heading for the stairs. She thought she heard crying, but couldn't be sure and by the time she got to the stairs Emily was back in her room with the door closed. Alison sighed, wondering what was happening to her Mermaid. She knew that Emily would never tell her on her own, so maybe she'd have to do some digging to find out, and even more to find out how to help her.

The next morning Emily came downstairs looking like she hadn't slept at all. Alison was sitting on the couch sipping her coffee and looked at Emily and bit her bottom lip, not wanting to admit that she'd heard her mermaid last night. She knew that Emily would try to play it off like nothing had happened but Alison knew better and so she let her bottom lip slip between her teeth as Emily returned a few moments later and sat on the couch sipping her own coffee and looking at the tv which was playing the news. Outside the rain fell hard as a storm had moved in at some point in the early morning hours. Emily felt the caffeine start to wake her body up, which it needed since she hadn't slept well. Alison scooted closer to her and placed a soft kiss on Emily's cheek. Emily recoiled slightly even though she didn't want to.

"Relax..." Alison said softly gently running her fingers along her girlfriend's back, "Your mother left an hour ago to run a bunch of errands in Phili. She said she'd be a few hours." Almost instantly Alison could feel Emily relax and gently lean back into her. Typically Emily was always the protective one, the one to hold Alison, but this time Alison knew it was her turn to be the protective one. Alison set her coffee cup down and pulled Emily into her so that the brunette girl was leaning against her. She wrapped her arms around Emily's waist and gently held her while she sipped her coffee, but finally the question came out, "What's wrong baby? You look like you haven't slept in days."  
Emily wanted to tell her. She wanted to tell Alison that the horror of the Dollhouse still tormented her, and haunted her dreams. The knowledge that she was hurting her friends, even if she wasn't. The emotional torment that she'd suffered when Charlotte used her love of Alison to get Emily to do what she wanted. That was the one thing that Emily couldn't ever forgive Charlotte for. She'd come to forgive her for everything else. Still she didn't think that telling Alison that would help ease her stress. If anything she'd make the blonde feel even more guilty for putting her through all of this and that was the last thing she wanted to do, "Nothing, just didn't sleep great." Emily lied sipping her coffee.

"I heard you..." Alison said softly, "I know you had a nightmare. Tell me about it, Mermaid. Please?" Alison wanted to know everything about her beloved. She wanted to know what was wrong, what tormented her at night, what made her sleep better, what she feared, what she loved, what she enjoyed. Alison wanted to know it all, so that she could do her best to make everything perfect for her.

Emily sighed knowing that Alison wasn't going to take no for an answer, "Just about the Dollhouse. It happens every once in a while, it's no big deal." She wasn't about to tell her the details or just how badly those nightmares scared her, but they weren't the worst ones she had. The worst ones she had were actually about Alison. The nights that her body and mind would somehow switch back into the mode they were in when Alison was gone, and she would wake up completely petrified that Alison was gone again. Normally those nightmares would leave her in a panic attack that would take hours to control.

Alison nodded slowly, listening to her mermaid, "I thought it might be." She said quietly, "I'm so sorry. I wish I knew how to make it better." She knew her words couldn't fix it but she still had to try. She only had so long with Emily before her soul mate would have to leave and go back to the Army for training. She accepted that. She knew that it was life in the army and she was ready to take on the challenge of being the girlfriend of someone in the military, but to her it just wasn't fair because they couldn't even be together for real yet because of the divorce and it was clear that Rollins wasn't going to just sign it the easy way.

"I don't think there's much anyone can do about it." Emily said with a sigh before closing her eyes and breathing Alison in. It calmed her to know that Alison was there, it always did. It just made her feel much better, and much calmer to have Alison there. That's what love like theirs did. That was the power of a soul mate. She decided to change the subject, hoping that Alison wouldn't push the matter too much, "So what do you have planned for this rainy Saturday?"  
Alison's bow lips curved into a gentle smile as Emily spoke knowing that she was trying to divert attention away from the nightmare. Alison decided to indulge her this time, "Not much. Laying here with the woman I love for as long as we can. We don't get to do this often, at least until the divorce goes through, we might as well enjoy it while we can, right?"  
Emily nodded, "Well in that case." She snuggled down and picked up the remote turning on Hulu. She scrolled through the movie selections until she settled on "The Duff" and then set the remote down. Alison, meanwhile, had pulled the afghan off the back of the couch and draped it over them both. The pair laughed at the movie here and there but it wasn't long before Alison noticed that Emily was out cold. Gently Alison kept moving her fingers through Emily's brown tresses, keeping her calm, keeping her asleep. She knew Emily needed it. She kept her eyes on the movie until she heard Emily's phone go off. Alison picked it up and it was a text from a blocked number. She furrowed her brow looking at it and opening up the text.

 _BLOCKED: "What would mommy say if she knew you were cuddling with a married woman? Kisses -A"_

Attached to the text was a photo of the two of them from that moment, and Alison instantly began to look around trying hard not to move as to not disturb Emily. Alison deleted the message and the photo before setting Emily's phone back down and thinking. What harm was there in telling Mrs. Fields about their relationship? Alison was pretty confident that she already knew about it based on what they'd talked about the night before. Alison understood her concern about it starting rumors, but Alison had learned that if they told the truth sooner than later, it gave -A less ammunition to use against them.

Another couple hours passed and Emily stayed sound asleep, gently resting against Alison while the movie finished and Alison switched back to the TV. But eventually Emily awoke and padded her way upstairs to take a shower just as her mom came in through the garage. Alison got off the couch to see if there was anything she could do, and to talk to Mrs. Fields about she and Emily. Something stuck in Alison's mind from what Mrs. Fields had said a few nights earlier when Alison was considering disappearing again. Perhaps that was her way to get into the conversation.

Alison entered the kitchen and Pam was busy putting things away from the cloth bags on the counter. She bit her bottom lip for a moment. She was so nervous, but she knew she had to do this, or -A was going to do it for her and the fallout from that would be far worse, "Pam..."  
Mrs. Fields turned and looked at Alison, "Yes Ali?" She said taking a break from putting the items away. She leaned back on the counter, being able to tell from Alison's tone that whatever she wanted to talk about was serious.

Alison took a breath, "Remember what you said would cure Emily's panic attacks and stuff?" She said as a lead in to what she really wanted to talk about. Pam simply nodded as Alison continued, "You said that being with me would be the only thing that could solve it. So... I guess what you're saying is that you would support a relationship between Emily and I?"

Pam nodded with a warm smile, "I would, very much. I've always wanted what was best for Emily and I will admit there was a few times, more than a few times, that I didn't think that you were what was best for Emily, but seeing the way she is with you, I know you are. So yes I would support a relationship between you. But it has to be done right. Emily deserves that. She deserves to be loved and dated in the right way, by a girl who is single." Her eyes fixed on Alison as she said the last part, "We wouldn't want Emily to have any scrutiny, now would we?"

Alison knew exactly what she meant and what she was getting at. All she could do was nod, "Of course not." And she knew that Mrs. Fields was right. As much as she didn't want to admit it, Pam was right. Not only would it ruin Emily's reputation in Rosewood, she knew that Emily had a military career to worry about now and while she could be openly gay; having adultery on her record wouldn't help it at all. No Mrs. Fields had solidified what Alison already knew; she had to wait until the divorce went through before she could make things official with Emily.

Alison nodded and walked out of the kitchen, feeling a bit heartbroken and nervous about what might happen if -A sent Mrs. Fields the picture of she and Emily cuddling on the couch. However she picked up her phone and dialed the number of the hospital that Charlotte was in hoping that her sister could shed some light on all this. She had been -A for a while after all. "Yes, Hello. Could you connect me to extension 528, please? This is her sister." Alison turned around and smiled as Emily came down stairs in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt after just getting out of the shower.

 _"I'm sorry Mrs. Rollins. Charlotte has had her phone privileges taken away indefinitely."_ The man on the other end of the line said.

"What? Why?" Alison said, her tone was completely shocked.

 _"It doesn't say Ma'am."_

"Well what about her visitation privileges?" Alison asked as Emily sat on the couch and watched Alison talk. From the other room they could hear Mrs. Fields getting things ready to cook dinner in the other room.

 _"They look like they have been suspended as well. Dr. Rollins didn't list a reason."_ The man explained.

Alison's blue eyes flared and her face tightened but her voice stayed at the same level, "Could you transfer me to Dr. Rollins' office please?"

There was silence for several minutes before the man returned, _"It looks like Dr. Rollins isn't in right now, but we could transfer to Dr. Kingston. He is handling Miss DiLaurentis'_ _case now."_  
Alison paused, thinking, "No that's alright. I'll speak with him later. Thank you." She hung up and folded her arms, "That motherfucker!"

Emily raised her eyebrow, "What happened?"

"Rollins is punishing Charlotte because of what's happening." Alison said, her tone was filled with anger.

"Charlotte knew this could happen." Emily said, trying to calm Alison down some, "Can we talk to the head of the hospital and get Charlotte's case transferred to another doctor since there's a conflict of interest now?"

Alison shook her head, "John's already thought of that. He transferred her to Wren Kingston." She shook her head and sat down, "What am I gonna do, Mermaid?" Her voice dropped from one of anger to one of desperation. She knew that Emily knew her heart better than she did herself.

Emily sat for a moment, before looking into Alison's eyes, "You're gonna get through this, just like we've done before. I only have another six days before I have to go, but I'll be ok, and so will you." She smiled softly wanting to reach out and touch Alison but she knew her mother could walk in at any moment. It was torture to not be able to really be with Alison but she knew it was better than nothing. She knew that her angel loved her and that was enough to make all of this worth it. She knew that once the divorce was finalized, they would be able to be together the way they both wanted, but all the waiting was killing her.


	15. The Thing of Nightmares

**Another update full of stuff. I hope you guys like it. We're probably getting a couple chapters away from the end, but don't worry, I'll be continuing this story under another name when Emily's leave time runs out in this story. Also it might be a little while before I can get to another chapter after this because I am busy with work for Graduate School but this story is far from over.  
As always reviews are welcome and encouraged. You guys are the best audience ever and what you have said and sent so far has been so reassuring and helpful! It really does help me keep writing, so please keep them coming! :D**

 _Emily's heart raced in her chest until Maya's voice came from behind her, "They found her body." That was it, her heart stopped, or at least it felt like it. She could almost feel her heart and soul being pulled out of her body, leaving her as an empty shell of a girl. Her stomach was in knots and it felt as though the air had been taken out of her lungs and she couldn't breathe. The tears fell, and the panic set in as the gurney came around the corner with a black bag and a body in it. Only the top was pulled back and Alison's head was visible. Emily couldn't help but to scream._

Emily shot up in her bed, the heartache, and empty feeling didn't go away. The panic was still there. Her bed was soaked with sweat and before she knew it she had jumped out of her bed and headed for the stairs. By the time Mrs. Fields' door opened Emily was already halfway down the stairs. Her mother followed her to the top of the stairs but paused as Emily ran out the front door and screamed for Alison before dropping onto her knees. Mrs. Fields headed down the stairs as a body with blonde hair raced by the foot of the stairs and out the door after Emily.

Alison, dressed in a long grey t-shirt and a pair of gym shorts dropped to her knees in the driveway next to Emily who was hyperventilating and sobbing and mumbling something about someone being gone. Alison wrapped her arms around Emily and gently started to rock her gently as Mrs. Fields got outside and looked at the two of them. Alison looked up at her, and the two almost had a telepathic conversation about this being exactly what Mrs. Fields had been talking about a few nights earlier. Alison turned back to Emily, "Shhhh come on Mermaid. I'm right here." She said, letting her fingers rake through Emily's dark locks, "Come on Em... I'm not going anywhere anymore. I'm right here." She leaned down, feeling Emily's breathing starting to slowly even out and the sobbing slowing, "I love you Emily. Come back to me. I'm right here. I'm not leaving you. I couldn't if I wanted to, I love you too much." She slowly rocked her in her arms until Emily slowly came back out of her panic and rolled gently in Alison's arms before sitting up.  
"I'm sorry.. I'm sorry for waking everyone up." Emily said sniffling and looking from Alison to her mother. Emily's hand stayed tightly gripped between both of Alison's as they all sat on the concrete of Emily's driveway.

"It's ok sweetie." Mrs. Fields said, "I'm just glad we were able to pull you out of this so quickly." Her face showed just how sad she was that her daughter was still going through this, "I hope that these get better, or go away completely. I hate seeing you like this."

"It's ok mom." Emily lied, "I don't know what causes it. I know that Ali's fine and everything." She looked at Alison as if to say 'And I know she loves me.' but no words came. They couldn't. Emily knew she had to keep quiet about their relationship, though she was pretty sure her mom could tell that something was going on between them. But even if she did, she wasn't saying anything.

Mrs. Fields squatted on the ground with the other two girls as the three sat in silence for a moment and Emily got her breathing under control. She knew what she'd told Alison earlier that day and what she'd told Emily earlier that week about any sort of relationship between the two girls, but she knew what Emily needed so she decided to break her own rule without actually breaking it, "Hey why don't you stay in the guest room with Ali tonight? It'll be like a sleep over." She wasn't that naive. She knew that this was basically setting them up for a romantic night. Given Emily's emotional state, she was confident that they wouldn't be having sex, but she also knew that Emily needed Alison and that the best thing for her daughter was the blonde holding her in her arms at that moment.

Alison turned with a surprised look to Mrs. Fields, "Are you sure?" She was surprised and more than a little overjoyed.

"Mom I'm fine.." Emily tried to protest, but it was just for show.

Mrs. Fields stood up, "I'm sure. I think it will do you some good Em. Now come on, stand up."

Emily and Alison stood and Emily took a deep breath before the three went back into the house Mrs. Fields bid them goodnight and Emily and Alison went into the guest room and shut the door. There was a low light on which cast shadows across the room. Emily sat on the edge of the bed and sighed looking at Alison who was slipping out of the shorts she'd thrown on and was only wearing a white lace thong and an oversized t-shirt as she crawled into bed.

"I'm sorry..." Emily said softly.

"For what baby?" Alison asked finally free to talk to Emily like they were in a relationship. It was a wonderful feeling and Alison couldn't help but smile.

"For.. well that." Emily said indicating the panic attack she'd just had, "I feel so bad that you had to see that."

"Come here Mermaid." Alison said as she held her arms open and sat up against the pillows of the bed. Emily slowly crawled into bed after slipping her own shorts off leaving her in a tank-top and pair of black cheeky panties. Alison wrapped her arms around Emily and held her tight, "I already knew about them." She paused, "Your mother told me about them the other day. I am the one who should be apologizing to you. I had no idea that leaving would do this to you. I'm so sorry Em." She kissed Emily's cheek, "But I'm here now and I'm never going away again. I'm yours for as long as you'll have me."

Emily's heart warmed at Alison's words and she rotated slightly in Alison's arms to look her angel in the face, "Then you better be here forever because that's how long I want you for." She leaned up and kissed Alison softly on the lips before snuggling down in her Angel's arms and closing her eyes, her mind free of any sort of nightmare or anxiety about Alison being gone.

Emily arose early the next morning to go on her run. She looked over at the mess of golden hair laying next to her sleeping soundly and leaned over softly kissing her cheek. Alison merely curled up closer and said nothing. Emily got herself ready and headed out the door. She normally ran six miles every morning but with everything that had been going on and since she was trying to spend as much time with Alison as she could, Emily decided to run eight that morning to make up for it. She knew Alison would have to go to school that day, which worried her, but Emily also knew she only had a couple days left before she shipped off to Fort Leonard Wood for advanced training.

It was a normal morning, warm, but then it was the end of August. Emily had her earbuds in as she jogged along the road, the same path she ran every morning. She'd been doing this since high school to keep in shape for the swim team, but this was different. She had to stay in the best shape since she was going to advance school for the Army. She already knew one of the first things she'd be doing was a physical fitness test.

Emily rounded the corner off in the woods and noticed a car coming. It was a black SUV with tinted windows coming up quickly behind her. Emily jogged to the side of the road, giving the vehicle plenty of room to pass. It always worked before, but still the car drove full bore towards her. Emily started running faster before the car sped by and Emily dove off the road and into the grass only to hear shots ring out from the car and the bullets snap over her head. She took off into the woods. She knew right where she was and immediately made a bee line for the kissing rock. Her heart was racing and she looked around wondering if there was anyone else waiting to spring their trap. There was nothing. Emily decided that running back wouldn't be the best idea so she pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed Toby's number. She didn't want to scare her mother and definitely didn't want Alison to worry any more than she already was about her.

Within a few minutes of calling Toby's cruiser pulled up and Emily got in and she began to explain what happened and describe the vehicle. Toby's walkie-talkie chirped and occasionally someone would talk, but he got the important information. Alison was just walking out of the Fields' house when the cruiser pulled up and Emily got out. She thanked Toby and turned looking t Alison.

Alison was wearing a set of cream colored strappy heels, and a pink floral dress that was sleeveless and hugged her curves perfectly. Her hair was down and slightly curled as it always was. She looked amazing. Emily felt her breath get taken away as she saw her.

"Em are you ok?" Alison asked rushing over to her.

Emily nodded, "Yeah I'm ok. I just got a weird feeling so I called Toby."

"Weird feeling my ass Emily Fields. You're bleeding!" Alison said sternly but with so much care and worry in her voice, "Now what happened?"

Emily hadn't even realized that she'd gotten a nasty cut on her forehead when she dove off the road. She reached up and felt it, feeling the warm blood on her fingers she sighed, suddenly feeling the pain, "Someone tried to run me over and then shot at me."

Alison's eyes grew big, "What?! Someone shot at you and tried to run you over with a car?"

"An SUV actually but I'm ok." Emily insisted.

"The hell you are! You're coming to school with me. Period. I'm not going to have you sitting here all day." Alison said, her mind was full of nothing but worry for Emily's safety.

"Ali, I'm ok. I promise." Emily said before lowering her voice, "I promise I'm ok baby. Don't worry." She smiled warmly at Alison, "Besides I need to shower and crap. How about I bring you a coffee later and then maybe I take you out for dinner tonight? Somewhere away from here, so we can really be together?"  
Alison smiled, "I'd like that." She looked around quickly before taking Emily's hand and kissing it softly before getting her keys and getting into Emily's car and driving off.  
Emily stood as Alison pulled out of the driveway and waved, knowing she was going to have to deal with the same panic when she got inside and her mother saw the cut on her head. She knew Toby was all over it, and she was comfortable with that, but Emily couldn't help shake the feeling that they were going to have to start watching themselves again. She thought this was over, but it looked like a new -A was in town and this one was far more lethal.


	16. Our Very First

**Here y'all go! I know quite a few of you have been asking about the next update and here it is. I'm sorry it's taken so long but Graduate School is keeping me busy. There's going to be one more chapter to THIS story, but stay tuned after that for another story which will be the continuation of this one. :) I want to thank EVERYONE for their support and their kind words and reviews. Sadly some of them I couldn't read because they weren't in English but I still appreciate it greatly! It makes my heart warm to know you guys love this, so please continue. Each review gives me new ideas and new directions in which to take this amazing romance. So please enjoy!**

There was a dark blue hue that hung over the table at which Emily sat gazing across at the most beautiful person in the world. Emily and Alison were on their first real date as a couple and Emily had managed to find and get reservations at a very upscale seafood restaurant that had a place where the customers could look into an underwater aquarium with all sorts of fish and coral and seaweed in it. The lights were kept low to keep the ambiance of dining underwater. Patrons could even scuba-dive in some parts of the restaurant if they had a trained partner to go with.

That wasn't why Emily had brought Alison here. The first reason Emily had selected this place was because it was forty five minutes from Rosewood, and twenty minutes from Philadelphia, so there was little chance of running into anyone they knew. It meant they could be a real couple and not have to worry about anything. Sure the threat of -A catching them and sending word back to Pam, or anyone else, but that was something they were willing to risk for one night of being a real couple. It was liberating, and since Emily had one more day in Rosewood, she wanted to make that night special for them both regardless of whatever -A wanted to throw at them.

The second reason Emily had chosen this particular restaurant was because she knew that it would hold special meaning given Emily's attachment to water and Alison's nickname of "Mermaid" for her. All of this would make the night one they were sure to remember for a long time. That was what Emily wanted, she wanted one night to be able to look back on and say it was the beginning of their real relationship. Sure they had technically become a couple the night that Alison declared her love for Emily and the pair went to Alison's house in Philadelphia, but that wasn't the real start to a relationship, the first date was, and this was their first date.

Alison blushed slightly and smiled looking away into the water as a fish swam by, "You're staring." It wasn't an annoyed tone, but rather one of embarrassment, as though she'd done something wrong or her make-up looked weird. She knew that wasn't the case since she'd spent an hour getting ready for this, longer than she'd ever spent getting ready for a first date. But this one was special, this one would be the beginning of what she hoped would be the last relationship of her life.

Emily smiled softly, "I can't help it. It's hard to not stare when you're sitting across from an Angel." She knew how cheesy that sounded and how much of a line it sounded like but it was true. Emily had always thought that Alison was an angel, her angel. Sent to Earth for her and only her, it just took them a while to figure that out.

Alison blushed and tried not to laugh, "That's sweet, and really cheesy." She smiled reaching out and taking Emily's hand in hers, softly rubbing Emily's dark skin with her thumb. She looked pale as a ghost compared to her tanned girlfriend, but she didn't mind. To her Emily was the most perfectly divine creature on earth. While Emily would find a million flaws about herself, Alison would find a million things she loved about her. She took a moment to gaze back at the woman who had dedicated the majority of her life to her, and they hadn't even been in a relationship. The truth was, that for a lot of the time that Emily was dedicated to her, Alison had treated her very badly and there wasn't a moment that went by that she didn't regret that, and feel ashamed of how she'd treated the one person who had always been there for her. Her soul mate. Finally Alison spoke softly, "When... when you thought I was dead, did you really think I was your guardian angel?" her words came out tentatively, but finally they came, and Alison's blue eyes showed the anticipation with which she waited for Emily's answer. Pam had filled her in on a lot of what Emily had gone through while Alison was gone, but she wanted to hear it from Emily. She wanted to hear Emily's version of it.

Emily paused a moment, the feeling of Alison's thumb moving across her skin making her feel warm, like a blanket being wrapped around her. Finally she nodded slowly as her smile faded, remembering the worst time of her life when she thought she'd lost Alison forever, "Yes." She said softly, "And after the barn I thought it even more, until I woke up and the girls were around me. You were gone, but the taste of your lip gloss and the feeling of your lips and the smell of your perfume was still there. I could smell it in my hair. I didn't want to wash my hair for days after because I didn't want to wash the smell of you from it." She knew that sounded pathetic, "But smelling and feeling all that; that's when I knew you were alive." Her brown eyes locked with Alison's blue hues as they held each other's gaze for several moments, "It gave me hope again." She paused, "I'm sorry I didn't go with you. I was so stupid."

Alison shook her head, "You were still in a fog from the car exhaust. It's ok. I understood." She shook her head as tears started to come to her eyes, "I... You don't know how hard it was to stay away." Her voice started to break and the tears started to roll down her cheeks, "And if I knew what my leaving did to you I would have found some way to tell you I was alive sooner." She brought Emily's hand up and kissed it, "I'm sorry Em..."  
"Hey..." Emily said softly, "It's ok, it's over now. What matters now is you are here, and we are together. Finally after all this we are together." She smiled bringing Alison's hand over and kissing it.

About that time their server arrived and Alison wiped her eyes and took a deep breath as she opened the drink menu and Emily did the same as the server introduced herself as Jan.

"I'll have a vodka Martini please." Alison said looking up at Jan.

"And for you miss?" Jan asked Emily.

"I'll just have a Bud Light." She said with a smile looking back across the table at Alison.

Alison took a moment before speaking again. She was trying to gain her composure after their last topic of conversation. Finally she smiled, "So tell me about the Army. I don't know much as I've never been exposed to it."

Emily smiled, as her heart glowed since Alison actually seemed interested in the life Emily had gotten herself into. Emily explained about what had happened during college with her father's death and how she'd almost dropped out of college but had managed to hold on and joined the ROTC program knowing that she needed money and her depression following his death had made her fail a semester and cost her the scholarship she'd been awarded. So she'd taken an ROTC scholarship and enlisted for a four-year hitch in the Army as an officer upon graduation. "It's a really good life." She said, "Structure, and discipline and financial security." She laughed a little, "As long as there are bad guys out there, I'll always have a job."

"Are you going to make it a career?" Alison asked as Jan brought their drinks back.

Emily shrugged, "Not sure yet. I haven't actually gotten out into the Army so I'm not sure where I'm going or what I'm doing. I'm supposed to be stationed at Fort Monmouth after graduation from MOS school." Emily explained, "So I won't be all that far."

"And what am I supposed to do? Stay in Rosewood or tag along and be the dotting Army Wife?" Alison asked with a laugh.

Emily laughed, "Wife?" She smiled and then let it go, not wanting to make a big thing of it, "You know, they have schools on Army bases. You could keep teaching, or you could stay here. You'll have to stay here until... until fucking Rollins is out of the picture."

Alison sighed, "I know but hopefully you'll be done with your school by the time that goes through and we can be a real couple. I know we don't have to hide it because 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' is gone." The relief on both of their faces was obvious as they kept talking about it, about what their future might actually look like.

"So how much longer do I get you for?" Alison asked as their salads arrived that they'd ordered in the interim.

"What do you mean?" Emily asked, "I told you the other night, I want you forever."

"I know that Mermaid." Alison said with a bright smile, "I mean when are you leaving?"

Emily nodded, "A couple days." She said sighing, "My train leaves from Penn Station at nine on Wednesday." It was Monday night.

Alison nodded and didn't even try to hide the heart-broken look that came over her features, "That's not long."

"I know." Emily replied with a sigh, "Especially when you have to work tomorrow."

Alison nodded, "I know. " She made a face, "Do you have any plans?"

"Maybe catch up with Hanna." Emily said, "Aria's in Boston and Spencer's still in DC, so it's either that or hand out with Mom."

"Don't make any plans tomorrow." Alison said, "I want to send you off properly." She smiled softly, and squeezed her hand, "We'll go to my house in Philly again. You'll already be there for the train and you won't have to get up as early."

Emily thought for a minute and nodded, "You sure that Rollins won't be there?"

Alison scoffed, "And what if he is? My strong Army girlfriend will have to protect me." She smiled brightly as she finished her salad.

The rest of the night went much the same. Light, warm, loving conversation between them both that just reinforced the fact that they were both unquestionably in love with each other. Neither wanted the night to end, but they knew it would have to. They knew that eventually they would have to drive the forty-five minutes back to Rosewood and go back to pretending they weren't in love. Alison knew that Pam knew about their secret relationship but she wasn't saying anything and for that Alison was grateful. She didn't know if Emily was quite as aware of her mother's knowledge but to Alison it didn't really matter.

Emily drove them back to Rosewood, neither of them really wanting to do it but somehow they found their way back to the Fields' house. It was well past eleven by the time they pulled into the driveway and all the lights were out in the house, telling Emily that her mother was probably asleep. She'd texted her mother earlier to tell her that they would be late, that they had caught a movie, but the truth was, Emily and Alison had just walked around and then spent twenty minutes making-out by the beach.

Emily got out of the car and pocketed her keys before walking up to the porch, hand-in-hand with Alison. Emily paused and looked at the blonde for a moment, "I need to do this one more time before we have to pretend not to be in a relationship." Emily wrapped her arms around Alison and brought her in close, kissing her deeply. She breathed in Alison's very essence as they stood on Emily's porch and held each other. Alison's arms went around Emily's waist as they held each other tight and enjoyed their last kiss of the night, their last kiss as a public couple before they went back to faking it.

Slowly the kiss broke and Alison smiled at Emily, gazing deep into her brown eyes, "Goodnight my love."

"Goodnight my Angel." She said kissing her quickly before opening the door and the two walked in. The perfect ending to the perfect first date.


End file.
